Piping Plover @ Pt. Mouillee - 26 Jul 2025

Shout-out to Geoff Malosh for finding a Piping Plover at 7 am this morning in the Lautenschlager Unit at Pt. Mouillee SGA in Monroe Co. He found it in the expansive mudflats that cover the eastern portion of the Unit. The bird was reported several hours later so I decided to run down and look for it after lunch.

I arrived at the Mouillee Creek parking lot shortly after 12:30 pm under heavy clouds and humidity (81F) and rode out along the west side of the Walpatich Unit to the north side, then east toward the Lautenschlager Unit. Birds were relatively absent from the Walpatich Unit save for several Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons. Swamp Sparrows and the odd Marsh Wren could be heard in the sedges nearby.

I arrived at the NE corner of the Lautenschlager and scoped the mudflats that extend along the eastern shoreline. Dozens of shorebirds were visible including Spotted Sandpipers, Lesser Yellowlegs, Killdeer, Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers and a single Stilt Sandpiper in the small pool in the middle of the mudflat.

I spotted the Piping Plover pretty quickly far out on the mudflat; it was ghostly white and much paler than the nearby Semipalmated Plovers foraging near the water's edge. I continued around to the east side of the Unit and parked the bike midway along the mudflat where a gap in the phragmites allowed a better view of the mudflats. Several Semipalmated Plovers were close enough to photograph,

and the Piping Plover came close enough for some long distance photos. Note the pale gray forehead and body that is lighter than the darker gray head and black mask of the SEPL above.

As a light rain started to fall I managed to relocate the Piping Plover among a small group of Pectoral Sandpipers and took some digiscoped images through the iPhone.

It then disappeared from view as I reported the bird on Discord. However, after several minutes of looking Karen Kessler arrived and we were able to refind it almost immediately.

The tiny plover moved north along the mudflats near the tip of the small peninsula and came close enough for me to get some images with the Sony a1 + 600/4 lens.

The dark band on the forehead and worn feathers are indicative of an adult bird. The thick black band around the collar is suggestive of an adult male (female would show thin black collar band). What is unusual is that the bird does not have any bands! Usually these guys are decked out in orange, silver, and green bands and/or flags on their tarsii (upper legs). 

Its a wild guess but I suspect that this bird may be coming from the interior midwest / southern Canadian Prairie region of its breeding distribution where banding programs are less extensive relative to Great Lakes efforts. This is the first Piping Plover I've ever seen without bands.

Great find, Geoff!

Pte. Mouillee SGA (permit required Sep 1-Dec 15), Monroe, Michigan, US
Jul 26, 2025 12:48 PM - 2:15 PM
Protocol: Traveling
2.613 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:     Cloudy, humid, light rain, 81F
29 species

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)  2
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  1
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)  10
Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus)  6
Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus)  1     NE tip of mudflats along e shoreline of Lautenschlager. Paler than SEPL w yellow legs (no visible bands), dark forehead band on pale gray head. Pics.
Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius)  3
Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)  8
Stilt Sandpiper (Calidris himantopus)  1
Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)  11
Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos)  8
Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla)  9
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)  7
Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia)  2
Double-crested Cormorant (Nannopterum auritum)  1
Great Egret (Ardea alba)  2
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)  18
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)  1
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)  2
Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii)  1
Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus)  1
Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia)  1
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)  2
Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris)  1
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)  2
Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana)  2
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)  6
Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas)  1
Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia)  1
Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea)  1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S262916093

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)