Send in your photos, folks. After this I have four or five contributions, which won’t even take us through Coynezaa. Today’s batch comes from ecologist Susan Harrison of UC Davis. Her notes are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
Rare Mountain Plovers, plus their companions and relatives
A mile-square plowed field edged by walnut orchards may not seem the likeliest place for rare birds. Yet such a field is where birders around Davis, CA have gone since 2018 to look for an overwintering flock of Mountain Plovers (Charadrius montanus). These are shorebirds that inhabit neither mountains nor shores but short grasslands and bare fields. They have been called “prairie ghosts” because they vanish by sitting and blending in with the soil. Sadly, the species is in significant danger of vanishing completely. Each winter, the local birders are excited to see this particular flock show up again.
Mountain Plover flock:
Mountain Plover fanning its tail to flush insect prey:
Mountain Plover in a haze of smoke from burning rice stubble:
Vast bare agricultural fields like this one must be richer in food resources than they look. Besides the Mountain Plover, flocks of these other small birds are often seen foraging there. All of them are much commoner than the Mountain Plover. (Photos from Yolo and Solano Counties, CA.)
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus):
American Pipit (Anthus rubescens):
Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris):
Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis):
Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta):
The Mountain Plover breeds in the western Great Plains. In this region, much of its habitat has been lost to land conversion and the removal of important native grazing animals such as these ones. (Photos are from a reintroduced prairie dog colony in AZ, and from eastern OR where pronghorn are still abundant.)
Prairie Dog (Cynomys ludovicianus):
Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana):
Other than the ubiquitous Killdeer, the Mountain Plover’s near relatives are all proper shorebirds that live on shores. (These examples are from the Bolivar Peninsula, TX, spring 2022.)
American Golden Plover (Pluvialis dominica):
Black-Bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola):
Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus):
One last fun fact: A female Mountain Plover lays half her eggs in each of two nests, and then incubates one nest while her mate incubates the other
A fine and very educational set! Thank you for sharing.
Not being an ornithologist and thus not conversant in the latin names of most birds, I love that the specific name of the killdeer is ‘vociferus’, most apt!
Out on the beach, I have often wondered why plovers have such large eyes, but have never remembered to ask the question when I am back at a computer. These shots prompted me to google that question and learn that plovers sometimes forage at night, something I would not have guessed.
Super interesting – I didn’t know that either. Thanks!
Wonderful set!
Beautiful avian portraits. Thanks. Killdeers in our neighborhood often seem to be especially active at night, calling and foraging in grassy areas and along roadsides.
These are really great, thanks! Mountain Plover is on my list of birds I hope to see someday. Glad to hear of an accessible location, even if far from Ohio.