The first Piping Plover sighting of 2016 took place on May 6 when visiting Traverse City birder Pat O’Connor found one while walking the beach. I saw what I presumed was the same bird on the beach the following morning. I was a bit concerned when I saw it in flight later in the afternoon since this day, May 7, was a day with a huge push of Sharp-shinned Hawks, and they were all over the beach. Since Piping Plovers are so well camouflaged against the sandy beach, I was worried that one of the hawks might have made a snack of it if they saw it in flight, but fortunately this didn’t happen.

Since then there have been two others individual Piping Plovers seen, based on the combination of colored leg bands observed.