Finally Pacified (31Jul2020)

It really stung that I missed the Pacific Golden Plover the previous weekend on the OBX so I just had to try again.  I knew a hurricane was coming and I thought (wrongly) that the plover might get blown out or worse.  So I took another Friday off and hightailed it out to the OBX once again.  I planned to stay another night in the Cape Point campground and brought my surfboards so I would have a justification if I missed the plover again.  I know the waves would be decent.

Upon arrival at the Salt Pond the wind was whipping up good and it was HOT!  The temp was in the 90s and over 100 with the heat index.  Not ideal conditions for standing out in a treeless sandy pond shore.  There were plenty of birds to look at.

I have never seen so many Yellow-crowned Night-herons, all immature or young birds.  This one was enjoying a small blue crab.

Pectoral Sandpiper - I looked hard through all the peeps for the one from last week but didn't find anything that looked like it.

Stilt Sandpiper

Bank Swallow

Lesser Yellowlegs

Then in the sun glare I finally located my bird!  Pacific Golden Plover with a Greater Yellowlegs.  The Plover's legs almost rivaled the Yellowlegs' legs in length.  That was the trait that made me immediately think of the Pacific Golden Plover when this bird was first seen several weeks back and initially called an American Golden Plover.

Nice comparison with a Black-bellied Plover.

I positioned myself and waited for it to get on the other side of the sun which it finally did.

The bird was molting and lost much of the black plumage it had only a couple weeks prior but that actually accentuated even more the white flanks which are another field mark for this species.

At one point it decided to go around me back to the bank in the sun but that allowed some decent flight shots.

SUCCESS!  To be honest, sometimes a bird that requires several attempts is even more satisfying then one you just roll up on.

Pectoral Sandpiper

Short-billed Dow

Since I had my bird and it was only 3 or 4 pm I decided to head home and skip a windy hot night in my tent.  Up in Rodanthe I checked the old S Turns surf spot and it was looking really good so I jumped in for an hour of surfing the famous S Turns with only one other guy out.  The other guy was a foil boarder and was super good at it too.  If you have never seen a foil board check this link out https://www.realwatersports.com/pages/foiling-lessons

Actually the guy I was watching had REAL Watersports logos on his board so he probably works there or is sponsored.  I should have taken some video footage because the guy was ripping it.  He got up on one wave, took it to shore and kept his momentum going all the way back out to where the waves were forming and repeated all over again 4 times without falling.  I am seriously thinking about getting one of these contraptions.

At the Pea Island sand bars near the photo blind there was probably 10-12 Black Terns.  A great ending to a perfect day!