May is a magical month to see migrating species throughout Massachusetts. Over the weekend on an early morning Piping Plover check up I was delighted and surprised to encounter a small flock of Dowitchers and Black-bellied Plovers hungrily feeding at the shoreline. Two Semipalmated Plovers joined the scene, too, and for a brief moment our Papa Plover was feeding with the migrating flock.

Unlike Piping Plovers, which nest in our region, we will never see nesting Black-bellied Plovers, Dowitchers, and Semipalmated Plovers on our shores. They are migrating to their northern breeding grounds in the Arctic.