Ocean’s Reach Has a Really Cute Neighbor
Say hello to the Snowy Plover! This beautiful Snowy Plover was captured on film by Stan Rubin. Did you know that Snowy Plovers are found along the West Coast from Washington State to Baja, California and along the Gulf Coast from Florida to the Yucatan Peninsula. Their preferred habitats include sandy coastal beaches and shallow alkaline lakes. They are also on the endangered species list as a result of predators like animals, larger birds, humans, construction along the beach areas, and even kite flying. The reason for this is that they build their nests on the sandy beaches and when anyone is near they leave their nests to draw attention away from the eggs or young. This allows the eggs to get too cold to hatch and the process must start all over again. So if possible keep an eye open for the beautiful Snowy Plover.
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March 1st, 2010 at 11:20 am
Beautiful photo! I see that the bird has 2 colored bands on its legs and one aluminum band on its upper left leg. Sightings of banded shorebirds can be reported here: http://www.bandedbirds.org/
Once the sighting (referred to as a re-sighting) and band info has been reported, you can see where the bird was banded and where it has been seen since banding.
Used to be that most bands were recovered from dead birds. Now, with so many people carrying telephoto digital cameras, birds can often be identified by their bands from close-up photos.
April 2nd, 2010 at 3:08 pm
I have thoroughly enjoyed Mr Rubin’s photographs. He is a true artist! Keep them coming. Do you know anything about the bands on the birds legs? I have seen the process done but I don’t know much about the different colors etc.
I’m also enjoying the Sunday excursions with Andy. I don’t know if I will get to any of those places in June but at least I know more about them than I did. Are there alligator’s in that river? I’m use to the crystal clear spring fed waters of our rivers in the Missouri Ozarks. (No Gators)
Sharon Linnartz