Dermot Breen's Blog: American Golden Plover, Truska, 6th October 2018

Saturday, 16 February 2019

American Golden Plover, Truska, 6th October 2018

I picked up my second adult American Golden Plover of 2018 back on 6th October at a favourite AGP spot - Truska on the Slyne Head peninsula. This area has proved to be the best site in the county for this vagrant with this being the ninth record. Saying that though this is the first record since 2014. They seem to have gotten a little bit more irregular like all American wader species in recent years. Disturbance has been an issue like all of these coastal sites due to increased tourist numbers largely thanks to the whole Atlantic Way tourist trail that was started in recent years. Surfers and golfers are also sources of disturbance and Golden Plover are now largely missing form these sites until the tourist season is over which is now generally in October. The tourist season used to finish in very early September but I've now noticed the season starts earlier and finishes later in the year now due to the increased tourist numbers. Like all human activity this has an effect on the natural world and rarely if ever is it a positive effect in my experience.

I think this is a different individual that I found up on Omey Island Strand a few weeks previous to this bird. https://dermotbreen.blogspot.com/2018/11/american-golden-plover-omey-strand.html