Semipalmated Plover

[csh...@bywordofmind.com]

Went for a grey-day drive (not even any sunglasses needed) south on Peoria Road and returning north on the back roads.  Going east to west on Brittain Dr., just before crossing Muddy Creek, we came on a flock of about 40 Semipalmated Plovers (plus a few starlings).  I've never been able to ID this spp before.  At first we thought they might be killdeer, but there were so many together it seemed unlikely.  We were able to watch them for about 10-15 minutes (zero traffic - excellent sight lines along the road).  They flew and scampered back and forth across the road, feeding in grass seed and drinking from puddles.  They scattered a bit when a hawk flew over but generally stayed on or very near the ground.  They made very quick, sharp turns quite low to the ground, flashing their white underwings.  Very pretty little birds and, as long as we weren't moving, quite tolerant of being watched.  

Also stopped at several spots to view the river and various sloughs and creeks.  They're all still high and muddy.  South of Peoria you can drive on Irish Bend Loop to a view point opposite (east side of river) of Irish Bend Park (west side).  The concrete stantions for the parking lot are nearly submerged.  It has a cobbled 'beach' where, when we stopped last summer, a giant 75+ foot cottonwood had come aground; a nice big bouncy one that kids were playing on.  I imagine it's made it's way much further down river by now.  

On both sides of Irish Bend are areas that seem to have been 'paved' with flat chunks of basalt.  I supposed these might be the remnant tops of natural basalt columns or they may be man-made and placed there to control the mud when Irish Bend was a landing for river boats loading wheat.  The west side has a large area with no vegetative cover, making the polygonal nature of the rocks very easy to see, but what we saw today on the east side had a very thin cover of moss, low grass and some sparse weeds with only a few rocks poking through.  It would have to have been a very narrow flow or maybe part of a pluton.  The cobbly beach on the park side and the deep cut bank through the valley fill soil on the east side are distinctly non-volcanic

.  Then again, maybe a flow or pluton of basalt is what caused the river to bend here in the first place.  It's a fun puzzle and makes me feel the need to do some searching to see if there are any USGS reports that cover that area.  None of the histories I've seen mention these 'pavings'.

Carma Henry