Semipalmated Plover

Semipalmated Plover (Chorlitejo Semipalmeado)
Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico
November 2017
Member of the Lapwing and Plover Family
§A Deceit of Plovers§ (shocking)
★The Most Common Plover on Migration in Most Areas★ (ehhhh...)

{Etymology Corner} Semipalmated Plover just has one of those birds where you're sure they meant to translate the name into normal-person-speak at some point and just never got around to it (lookin at you, Pyrrhuloxia). Semipalmated, this Plover's mouthful of an adjective, means 'somewhat palm-like', and describes the bird's semi-webbed feet. Aaaaand now you know that!

~true bird fact~ Unlike most plovers, this guy can actually swim. But, like, you know, only a little bit. So don't get too excited about this bird fact.

Caries a big camera around everywhere on vacations, but never shows off his photos
When compared with other Plovers, somewhat plain. You could think of him as the default Plover
I'll just come right out and say it, not a faithful partner. Shame on you, Semipalmated Plover

Killdeer

Killdeer aka. Chattering Plover aka. Noisy Plover (archaic)
Odessa Meteor Crater, Odessa, Texas, USA (Trip Advisor Quote: "Don't expect much, and you won't be disappointed")
July 2017
Member of the Plover/Lapwing Family
§A Season of Killdeers§

{Etymology Corner} Named onomatopoetically after the sound it makes. It's archaic names refer to this habit of noisy, frequent, distinctive calling as well. As for whether the cry sounds like 'killdeer' or not, your amateurnithologist is extremely skeptical.

~true bird fact~ Killdeer build their nests right out in the open, not attempting to disguise or protect them environmentally. What they do instead is a very active defense of their nest. The Killdeer may be most famous for her 'broken wing display' (below), in which she flutters around and pretends to be injured, to get predators away from the nest. When they've been lured far enough away, she simply pops up, good as new, and flies away. To deal with larger, non-predatory animals, the killdeer will charge them and perform a different display, attempting to get them to change their path to avoid a nest-trampling.

Seems nice, but really loves to gossip
Always a few months behind the curve in discovering new trends and technologies
Thinks she knows everything about your kids, just because she has kids
Great cook

Grey Plover

Grey Plover aka. Black-bellied Plover
Hayward Regional Shoreline, Hayward, California, USA
August 2015
Member of the Lapwing and Plover Family
§A Wing of Plovers§
★North America's Largest Plover★ (Loyal readers may remember that we've also covered N. America's Smallest Plover)

~true bird fact~ Although he only breeds in the arctic, this classy gentleman has nearly worldwide coastal range the rest of the year. He appears on the beaches of six different continents. His other unique quality is that he is more anxious and sensitive than most other shorebirds, often acting as an early warning system when something is amiss. In fact, because of this tendency, he retains a healthy population even in places where other shorebirds are quite threatened by natural or human predation.

Finding his own way in the world after a childhood of luxury
Has a psychoanalyst
Worldly affectations, like using loose tobacco for cigarettes, or wearing a pea-coat
Impossible in a relationship. Just impossible

Snowy Plover and Chick

Snowy Plover aka. Western Snowy Plover
Coal Oil Point Reserve, Isla Vista, California, USA
July 2015
Member of the Lapwing and Plover Family
§A Brace of Plovers§
★North America's Smallest Plover★

~true bird fact~ Young snowy plovers can leave the nest an amazing 3 hours after hatching, and are already capable at that point of running, swimming, and catching food. They still need the experience and brooding of their parent, who at that point is generally a single dad, but they're extremely independent as bird chicks go. Oh, you might be wondering if these precocious bird chicks are cute or not. Well..

Yes. The answer is yes.

How endangered are they? Like the Burrowing Owl, and the California Condor, the Snowy Plover is one of California's most well known endangered birds. They are designated as 'Threatened' by the Endangered Species Act, at least in their Western Population. They are a bird who makes their home on wide, flat expanses of sandy beach, mostly breeding in Southern California, and as you can imagine they run up against humanss fairly regularly. A number of concentrated conservation programs, led by the UC system, have brought Western Plovers back from the brink. I personally was able to see these plovers on a beautiful and active recreational beach near Santa Barbara, where signage, rope lines, and volunteers are all that protect the plover. It seems to be enough, as the program is a fairly dramatic success. Your blog author can never really tell why conservation for some birds really takes off the way it does, while others languish in obscurity, but it's always nice to see when it happens. Snowy Plovers are popular enough that they have a website dedicated to them, westernsnowyplover.org, which features an 11 minute video for kids, printable signs, and an extremely detailed recovery plan. Oh, and go watch that video, it's amazing.