Pacific Golden-Plover
| Pluvialis fulva | Order: Charadriiformes | Family: Charadriidae (Plovers and Lapwings) |
For a decade, I used a cow photo instead of the obvious picture of a Pacific Golden-Plover because I didn’t have a photo of the bird yet! But also, the only way I added the species during my 2013 Conservation Big Year was thanks one particular cow. In December, I was at the Point Reyes National Seashore searching the area where a few Pacific Golden-Plovers had recently been reported. One irritable guy was already there and seemed disturbed by my arrival, so after scanning, I birded in other places at Point Reyes. I returned every couple hours, but every time I went back to the plover location, he was complaining. When I came back about 3 pm., he was giving up. After he drove away, I decided to walk along the road a bit, and the cow made eye contact. I could meet her eyes because I’d recently stopped eating beef, and as I walked toward her, she lumbered up to the fence and seemed to want her forehead scratched. The moment I touched her, a couple of Pacific Golden-Plovers flew over, calling.
I finally got photographable looks in Nome, Alaska, in 2022, and of lots of wintering birds just about everywhere in Hawaii in 2024.