Chasing Plovers

We had an eventful week on the Oregon Coast this past week.  We had several reasons to be there, the main one, except for escaping the heat of the valley, was for an interview for a volunteer position for next summer. Our meeting was with Siuslaw Nation Forest personnel on Friday for a job in the Western Snowy Plover Conservation Program. It’s a unique position that includes both the Siuslaw National Forest and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The Western Snowy Plover is a threatened species along the Pacific Coast on both the state and federal levels, so there is interaction with a number of different personnel from both state and federal agencies. We got to meet a good number of both state and federal people at a potluck at noon on Friday.  Everything went favorably and at this point it looks like we will be spending a good part of next summer based at a campsite in the Waxmyrtle Campground along the Siltcoos River south of Florence. This is a job we have wanted for probably the last eight years, so we are excited to see it finally coming together.  The position is from March 15 to Sept 15, but we only want to work for three of those months, so if you are interested in a volunteer experience contact us to help out.  We came back home on Saturday to find birders reporting a Semipalmated Plover at Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge close by, so early Sunday morning I met my friend John West to see if we could find it, which resulted in the above photo.  All of which is to say, plovers are going to be playing a bigger part of our life in the coming year.