Bahamas Banded Piping Plover at Point Lookout Long Island...

I found and documented my first banded Piping Plover for 2013 on Sunday April 8th at Point Lookout Long Island.  This after receiving a tip from my friend Tom Burke on a large number of PIPL seen in the area; after the conversation with Tom, I went to Point Lookout on Long Island and found the banded Piping Plover after searching for and counting 31 Piping Plovers.  This number matched the number that Tom, Gail Benson and Andy Guthrie had counted.  I got many photos of the banded PIPL, but then had an issue retrieving the photos off the CF card (still to be resolved).

Luckily, I had taken some digiscope shots, so I was able to download a few which helped me to send out the band information for research.  Dr. Cheri L. Gravatto-Trevor who is involved in the research on these banded Plovers, was quick to respond, confirming what I suspected, that this bird was a Bahamas banded Piping Plover.  Dr. Cheri reported that the bird was banded in January 2010 in the Bahamas, at Seas Beach, Grand Bahama Island.  The bird normally was seen at Jones Beach, Long Island and was reported there in 2010 and 2012.  A few days later, another Piping Plover authority, Peter Doherty, contacted me to let me know that the very same bird was seen and reported from Montauk.  The PIPL had moved further east.

Tags: Point Lookout, Long Island, Piping Plover