Plovers and people do well living close to each other

Is it OK to feed the kolea in your yard? A member of the standing-room-only audience asked that of golden plover researcher Dr. Oscar (Wally) Johnson during his recent talk on these shorebirds.

The question was also the subject of two emails I received from readers who were surprised that I would feed my plover, Gracie, scrambled eggs. " … wildlife experts warn residents never to feed wild animals … " one wrote. "I hope you heed the advice of experts."

I do. The expert in this case is Wally Johnson, and he sees no problem in feeding Hawaii’s plovers. In his slideshow, Wally showed a photo of a Kaneohe resident who for 10 years and counting has been buying his kolea mealworms. In the picture, the bird is standing on the man’s hand.

Wally writes in a 2010 paper ("Birds of North America," Cornell University, bna.birds.cornell.edu) that the birds are very adaptable to coexistence with humans. "Extensive land-clearing in Hawaii … has likely improved wintering conditions for Pacific golden plovers by creating open environments."

Besides cultivating lawns around our homes and making golf courses, cemeteries, pastures and parks, we have introduced alien creatures to our islands. Hawaii’s plovers pluck earthworms, blind snakes and millipedes from soil and grass, and also eat cockroaches, ants, earwigs, mites and slugs.

Plovers aren’t picky about grass. Some birds do much of their foraging on pavement. One individual Wally knows spends its winters on the AstroTurf fairways of a miniature golf course.

Hawaii’s kolea revert to their wild nature in Alaska, and that includes being good at spotting, and eluding, foxes and birds of prey (and plover researchers.) Wally suspects that this keen ability to protect themselves and their chicks from Arctic predators is why cats and dogs don’t seem be much of a problem for the birds in Hawaii.

Evidence comes from one kolea that Johnson banded and studied at Bellows, an area populated by feral cats. The plover wintered there for 21 years, a longevity record for the species.

Barn owls, however, are a threat to kolea as well as to native shearwaters and petrels. The night-hunting owls were introduced to Hawaii in the 1950s to control rodents, but barn owls also eat sleeping shorebirds and seabirds.

For all their flying, foraging and feather growing (plovers molt twice while in Hawaii), kolea need fat and protein, the main nutrients in eggs and meat. Rice and bread aren’t the best food for plovers, although Wally knows one that winters outside a fast-food joint and routinely snatches french fries from mynah birds.

Today, plovers and people are allies in conservation. We give the birds a hand with habitat and food, and they give us a personal connection with a native bird. In thriving with humans, the kolea show us, in all their glory, the basic principle of life on Earth — adaptation.

We’ve come a long way from shooting 15 plovers per hunter per day. Now, instead of having plovers on toast for breakfast, we cook and serve them eggs.

How lucky we Hawaii residents are to host majesty in our own backyards.

Reach Susan Scott at www.susanscott.net.