Last Thursday, while conducting the weekly bird survey at Jacksonville’s Huguenot Memorial Park, Audubon’s Lesley Royce, Carole Adams and Doris Leary spotted a very unusual shorebird: a Greater Sand-plover. This is the first Florida record for this Asian shorebird, and only one of a handful of records for the Continental US! The bird was feeding on fiddler crabs in the park’s cove area, which is now better protected as a result of the park’s improved management plan. Since Thursday, the plover has attracted a continuous stream of birders from across Florida and the country. Interested in visiting? Park information can be found here.

While there, birders can also view the large flock of more than 600 migrant Red Knots at this site; most are molting into their bright reddish breeding plumage, and some even carry leg bands and flags identifying them as birds that winter as far south as Tierra del Fuego! When the tide recedes, the knots have a few hours to feed on Donax (small clams) on the shoals at the park’s tip. Audubon, USFWS and Jacksonville Zoo staff and volunteers assist the City in protecting the birds from disturbance by preventing access to the shoals at each tide cycle. It is a very demanding effort, but necessary to allow the rapidly declining knots to refuel so they can successfully complete their migration to the Arctic.