Crow Plucks Plover

[ Excerpted from SBN-P, 6/22/2005: ]

Crow flies away with plover chick...

Santa Barbara Councilman Das Williams broke the bleak news at Tuesday's council meeting.

"It's sad because it would be a great triumph to have the three fledge," Mr. Williams said. "But that's not the way it worked out."

The plover chicks are the first to hatch in Santa Barbara since 1933, according to a book on birds of Santa Barbara.

Since the nest was spotted at the harbor in early May, Mr. Williams -- a plover docent at UCSB's Coal Oil Point for the past couple of years -- has been helping out at the harbor, armed with a slingshot to dissuade predators. The sandspit is temporarily closed to protect the threatened shorebirds.

Now that crows have learned the plovers are there, they will probably be more aggressive in their pursuit of a fresh meal, Mr. Williams said. He said the city must be even more vigilant and sign up docents to patrol from sunrise to sundown...

The remaining plover chicks should be able to fly early next month. City officials and birders are hoping it will happen before Independence Day, when fireworks will be launched from a barge in the harbor.

All going well, the youngsters will be able to fly away from the explosions.


[ SBN-P full text online:
Crow flies away with plover chick ]