The Plovers are Back

Kakaako Waterfront Park lawn

The Pacific Golden Plovers (Pluvialis fulva) have returned to their winter feeding grounds in Hawaii, parking their tail feathers here after a 50-hour non-stop flight from Alaska (take THAT, Alaska Airlines).

Arriving every August/September from their summer nesting grounds up north, these beautiful birds grace our lawns until they leave in early May.

They are pretty territorial and somehow remember where their local Hawaii neighborhoods were last year before they flew back to Alaska.

One of them rather owns our side of the street where they wander about the front yards among the doves and finches, poking around the grass for insects. And believe me, there is an abundance of insects in our lawns.

Our neighborhood plover ("kolea" in Hawaiian) has already arrived; I saw it for the first time a week ago. The one pictured above is part of a dozen or so that haunt Kakaako Waterfront Park, where I went walking for the first time in weeks the other day.

Their beautiful plumage helped make my sweaty, hilly walk that much more enjoyable.