“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for the spring. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter.”
—Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder
I’ve shared this quote before but can’t help doing so again. The deciduous trees in our neighborhood are resurrecting, and early spring migrants are singing in their canopy. The energy that’s springing up in my ecological community after winter sleep is life-giving.
Meet the little ringed plover, one of spring’s harbingers for birdwatchers in Japan.
Names: Little ringed plover | Charadrius dubius | コチドリ (kochi-dori)
Size: 14-17cm
Range: Little ringed plovers are globally widespread. They tend to live in Europe, Central Asia, and Japan during breeding season (spring to fall) before migrating to Central Africa and Southern Asia in the winter. In some Southern Asian countries, they can be seen year-round.
Habitat: In Japan, little ringed plovers can be spotted around tidal flats. They nest along the ground in scrapes (small depressions in the ground, often surrounded by a bit of vegetation or stones) nearby bodies of water. These nests are highly vulnerable to industrial development. All around Japan, and particularly in the Tokyo Bay Area, natural and gravel banks have been replaced by concrete channels. Sadly, this has created a housing shortage for species that depend on these habitats, including the plover.
Diet: Little ringed plovers hunt for crabs, lugworms, and other small animals living in tidal flats by striking their beak into the sand to reach prey below.
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