NOTES: BREEDING RECORD FOR THE SEMIPALMATED PLOVER AT OCEAN SHORES, WASHINGTON

Abstract

On 23 June 1973, at Ocean Shores, Grays Harbor County, Washington, Eugene Hunn and I observed an adult Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) in breeding plumage calling incessantly and diving at us as close as 15 feet. The bird seemed to be defending a territory in a flat sandy area covered with pebbles and broken seashells, surrounded by sand dunes, and situated near the tip of a mile-long sand spit extending from the southern tip of the Ocean Shores peninsula into the mouth of Grays Harbor. We searched for eggs and young but found none.