Siberian Sand-Plover

I got my 2026 mega rarity!

Friday September 18, 2026 – Silver Strand, San Diego

I made an impromptu list of 2026 bird watching targets while a tad buzzed brushing my teeth while getting ready for bed on the last night of 2025. The list included challenging to see California residents and migrant visitors, photographing five owl species (I’m at three at the time of writing!), and seeing a ‘mega’ rarity, among others.

Between planning a wedding, a new puppy, work, and other obligations this year, I will expectedly not be accomplishing many of these targets. However, when I saw reports midweek of this rare Asian-Pacific vagrant just south of me, I felt this was one target I could not let slip by.

____________________________________________

My friend texted me this morning about being stressed and quite frankly, I am in the same boat. Between the gutting of the endangered species act by the US executive branch, rising fascism, a ludicrously ineffective opposition party, a global energy crisis that will certainly increase cost of living (but lower emissions I suppose?), continuing illegal war by my country largely contributing to said crisis, governments in Europe reiterating advice to stock up on food and water, my precarious job situation.. there are certainly many stressors!

Fortunately for me, birding allows me to ground myself and be reminded of the beauty of the nature, plant, and wildlife while offering optimism for the future. Figuratively escaping the weight of the world, with focus only on the natural area I happen to be at, minus the intrusions of pollution, visible habitat intrusion and roar of an aircraft above.

Anyway, I made the decision this morning I would head down after work if I saw a report of the Siberian Sand-Plover and sure enough, one was submitted very early in the morning. Work dragged of course, with the anticipation of having an excuse to bird somewhere new, with the hopes of seeing something exceptionally new.

I rushed out around 15:00 and much to my dismay as I sat in my started car putting the destination in the mapping service, I found traffic was egregiously worse than expected. The 75 mile drive was forecast to be 150 minutes, a solid 30 minutes longer than I expected. I hesitated to leave knowing I would only have roughly an hour of sunlight by the time I arrived. Knowing birds often move at night in migration, I released the clutch and headed out not wanting to miss a potential opportunity.

____________________________________________

I arrived at the beach at 17:45 and began the mile long journey to the coordinates the Sand-Plover was last spotted this morning. This was a somewhat slow walk of course, needing to carefully scan the dunes and tiny sand mounds for birds while also balancing this search with being cognizant of remaining daylight.

To my left, the water gently pushed and pulled its way up and down the sand, Sanderlings scurrying with the movement of the ocean. To my right, Black-bellied Plovers stood motionless in the dunes taking notice of my every step.

I eventually arrived to a small group of Snowy Plovers, an encouraging sight as the bird has been reported associating with these birds. I scanned the 8 initial plovers I came across huddled in their little sand burrows; no vagrant amongst them. Continuing onward I ran into another birder scanning an even larger group of Snowy Plovers. I asked if they had had any luck, but no sighting of the Sand-Plover yet. I let them know I would holler if I came across it.

I continued north along the beach, a group from the navy unloading small boats and placing them in my path. This beach is part of, or at least immediately adjacent to, a navy base. When entering this stretch of beach a sign states you must only stay on the wet sand. Not fully knowing how this beach works, I somewhat timidly walked by this group unloading a vehicle using part of the sand I needed to get through. Some blank stares as I scuttled by, but no interrupting of my search.

I came across a very large group of Semipalmated Plovers about a quarter-mile past the last group of Snowy Plovers. I scanned and scanned but no Siberian Sand-Plover here either! I had about 30 minutes left of sunlight and with a mile walk back awaiting me, I considered trying my luck just surveying the groups behind me again on the way back. But as the sun was dimming, the marine layer seemingly forming out of nowhere, two groups of 10-20 Semipalmated Plovers flew in, joining the already resting birds on the sand. These were likely coming back from a day in the mudflats on the south end of the San Diego Bay. I figured these returning birds were worth more of my time.

____________________________________________

As I have found very typical with these rare reported birds I seek out, I either spot them immediately or immediately at the verge of giving up. I figured I would go a tad further north after just seeing incoming birds join the flocks on the beach. Not 100 feet further the Siberian Sand-Plover was directly in front of my path! This plover was not just resting but actively foraging! I quickly snapped a photo to make sure my eyes were not deceiving me:

I felt kind of stunned at first how easily visible the Sand-Plover was. I had began to figure it was probably hiding within the dunes, far beyond where I was allowed to stray. An obscured glance of the bird was all I began to hope for just a few minutes prior. The bird was scampering around the sand, feeding near the seaweed at the high tide area with the Plovers as well as at the water’s edge with the Sanderlings.

As the sun increasingly neared the horizon, the bird eventually joined the Semipalmated Plovers higher up the beach. I laid down on the damp sand, camera pointed in front of me and patiently hoped it would move closer to the rest of the group. The Sand-Plover must have noticed some tasty invertebrates moving in the sand and seaweed between the two of us, as it sped towards them, digging its bill into the sand. I had the pleasure to watch this for several minutes as it neared me, capturing solid photos, only at the cost of driving home in damp and sandy clothes.

I spent a total of 10 minutes watching this cute little visitor, and having failed to capture the attention of the other birder, who was now over a quarter-mile away from me, decided to give the birds a break and jogged back. I was interrupted by a tern screeching, upset, as I learned, about a Parasitic Jaeger harassing it for a meal:

I caught up to the other birder, a bit out of breath and exclaimed, I spotted it! I told them where it was and wished them good luck, as there was only about 10 minutes left until sunset. I really hope they came across it as well.

____________________________________________

I walked back the remaining stretch of sand happy, and briefly forgotten of all the stressors of the present day. All thanks to a bird who visited my tiny corner of the planet from all the way across the Pacific.

A tick added to my 2026 birding target list, a second consecutive year of an Asian-Pacific species visiting my area after last year’s Olive-backed Pipit, and most importantly a wonderful hour prior to sunset observing the life on the beach.

And that’s the story of my first Siberian Sand-Plover (#491)!