Wednesday, September 8, 2010

The Plovers are Back

I saw my first neighborhood plover of the season earlier this week, and probably would have seen it last week if I weren’t on the mainland toasting my buns in the Las Vegas desert.

The plovers, as you may remember, fly here annually from Alaska where they spent the summer feeding. Flocks of Pacific Golden Plover (Pluvialis fulva, or “Kolea” in Hawaiian) fly to Hawaii for autumn and winter, fattening up on the smorgasbord of insects in our yards.

It’s a good guess that this is the same female that’s been coming to my neighborhood year after year, ‘cause they’re kind of territorial and selfish that way.

And their arrival (to me anyway) heralds the end of summer.

Welcome back!

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