On January 27, 2000 Tony Gallucci and I birded the Granger Lake area northeast of Austin, Texas. The highlight of the day was observing several Mountain Plovers bathing in (and exhibiting territorial behavior over) rain puddles in the middle of a little travelled paved road. The photo sequence below shows this behavior:

1. The sequence begins with a single bird bathing in a rain puddle in the middle of the road...
2. Another bird approaches the rain puddle, exhibiting a crouched territorial behavior, and giving high-pitched call notes...
3. The birds chase each other into, out of, and around the puddle for several seconds, during which they continue to "argue" with each other by giving a number of high-pitched call notes. They eventually end their conflict at a nearby second puddle when the original bird flies off. The second bird stops to survey the area (note the deeper water of a "mini-pothole" directly in front of the bird)...
4. The second bird steps into the deeper water of the "mini-pothole" and proceeds to bathe...

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