Wild things: The Snowy Plover
by Carolyn Kraft To live on the beach, bask in the sun, scrape a nest in the sand, run near the waves and make love along the dunes is to live the life of a snowy plover. Western snowy plovers or Charadrius alexandrines nivosus are cute little birds that inhabit prime waterfront property along California’s coast and inland water bodies. Weighing just one to two ounces and reaching six and a half inches in length, snowy plovers are designed to blend in with their environment. Their back feathers are a sandy brown and the stomach feathers are fluffy white. This color scheme is accentuated by a stout black bill, dark grey legs, black eyes and a white ring around the neck. For several months of the year males and females look alike, but once breeding season begins males develop a few distinguishing characteristics. The head is topped by a rust colored cap and black feathers appear around the ears, side of the neck and crown. The black crown looks like the bird version of a unibrow, just one strip of solid black across the forehead. Sometimes females also display breeding plumage, so it’s not a perfect identification system because there are exceptions to the rule. A male (and…
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