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Juvenile Mountain Plover (Charadrius montanus) - Newport, OR

Repost of one of the best moments of my life was having this juvenile Mountain Plover run around my feet along with his 9 Snowy Plover friends. A Snowy Plover actually walked across my legs as I lay in the sand. Mountain Plovers are usually seen by scope in a distant field and usually not on a sandy beach! This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, so my friends and I drove 8 hrs down to the beautiful Oregon Coast. Oregon is in my top 3 fave states because of its beauty. I don't think I will ever get this close to a Mountain Plover ever again (he was within 5 feet) so it's a memory I will always treasure. These birds are listed as critically endangered in Canada and are threatened in the US. We really need to preserve their habitat and stop turning grasslands into agricultural land if we want this species to persist. They are vital to our ecosystem and indicate its health.

 

To see more of the photos I took of him two years ago click here

flic.kr/p/CYMPby

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Uploaded on August 9, 2018
Taken on February 7, 2016