Meeting the Black Bellied Plover & a New 'Diet?' - Highlights of My Day Project May 15, 2021

This day turned out to be pretty eventful / story-worthy as luck would have it. Not all days are like that... and that's definitely ok with me. I really like 'boring' - always have - and even more so by the day!

​Did something a little more 'eventful,' however, work out surprisingly well for the first day of a 'highlights of my day' project? Yes.

Being that this was a weekend day, my husband and I decided to go to a local(ish) beach to see the sunrise and to check out some of the warblers who were said to be migrating through the area. Beautiful sightseeing on a weekend day off - a pretty common plan!

Now, you are familiar with sunrises I hope.. but for those who are unfamiliar with warblers (and I know I was up until recently), warblers are a type of bird, or more accurately types of birds. According to wikipedia, "Various Passeriformes (perching birds) are commonly referred to as warblers. They are not necessarily closely related to one another, but share some characteristics, such as being fairly small, vocal, and insectivorous." In other words.. warblers are cute little (usually insect eating) birds.

​Here's a picture of one type of warbler we might've seen that day..

Yellow Warbler - Photo Credit: Ebird

The day had other plans. We didn't see any warblers this day. Instead, as we pulled into the park area with a long road leading its way to the beach, we saw a shore bird (a black bellied plover specifically) running away for its life. [Now, I have to stop right here and say I am NOT one for these types of stories. I'm not a 'let's highlight the cruelties of nature' kind of girl. In fact, I don't believe in that at all for multiple reasons I could get into later.  That said, this is what it is.. and it happened. I take no joy in writing this other than in the happy ending!] 

As we slowed down the car and looked more closely, we saw about three or four crows mercilessly chasing the plover down the long road trying to attack as the plover tried to fend each of them off. The scene was so loud and crazy that other cars stopped and slowed down as well.

As it turned out, this plover was injured... and as it also turns out, crows don't like being anywhere (as in within many football field lengths) of any'thing' that is injured. This beautiful black bellied plover couldn't get away fast enough. They were about to catch up to him. It was scary and horrible to watch.

Apparently, in defense of their territory, crows seek to take down any being that is injured within their 'realm' completely. Supposedly, this is in the interest of keeping their territory scavenger and predator free. Since his wing was injured, the plover could only run but he was not that fast of a runner.

We couldn't just leave him there like that!!

..and I'm going to just get to the point here. With the good fortune of having other cars stop, slow down and avoid the situation (it helped that it was early morning so traffic was light), my husband chased down the black bellied plover in order to get him away from the crows and get him medical attention. (The black bellied plover was absolutely adorable and sweet by the way.) Can we please forgive the crows for not knowing any better.. ? However, not cool guys.

Luckily, just as my husband was able to gently scoop up the plover (after about a ten minute back and forth chase), a park ranger at the end of his shift drove by and offered to assist us by continuing to block traffic. That was very helpful at this point as traffic gets busier as it gets later in the morning. I'm not going to lie.. I don't always trust the goodness in people and this surprised me! I stood by with the car and my husband ended up handing me the plover scooped up in his sweatshirt (who was ok, but did have the injured wing).

We didn't know where to take the bird but once again the park ranger saved the day by instructing us that we could drive him to the nearby park medical office to see what they could do. While the park office itself did not rehab birds, they did have a nice box for us to keep the plover in while we looked up nearby aviary rescues. We very fortunately found one about 40 minutes away. Of course, we canceled our other morning plans and drove the plover to the rehabilitation and rescue center. This completely voluntary avian rescue (which also blew our minds with their caring and generosity) immediately began keeping 'Plovy' comfortable and caring for his injured wing. I'll add an update here as I receive one.

Here's the link to the list of NJ wildlife and Avian rescues that helped us find a good rescue to give 'Plovy' his best chances of healing and comfort that morning. Finding this list on Google saved the day for us literally. We would have been so upset had we not been able to find this or qualified help for Plovy.

​https://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/pdf/rehab_list.pdf

..and here are a few photos of the beautiful black bellied plover we were so fortunate to be able to meet, though we would've preferred he had been able to avoid the circumstances in which he got to meet us. This was an emotional situation but in these situations, you can only do the best you can. We are so glad we were there that day.

In other 'highlights of the day' news, one of our rescued outdoor cats who had been acclimating to an indoor environment for a few weeks came out from under the bed during dinner for the first time. Fortunate animal rescue successes seemed to be the theme for this day. (Update, he not only continues to come out from under the bed now but has also turned into a bit of a cuddle bug liking to be pet!)

[THIS WOULD BE A GREAT PLACE FOR A PHOTO OF THAT KITTY FIRST BUT I FORGOT TO SNAP IT - LESSON LEARNED.;)]

Another thing that struck me as interesting this day? A new 'diet' term I had never heard before. The new diet is called 'planetarian.' I learned of it as a friend has posted a little something on social media about it. I'll post the definition and some more info here for those who might be interested.

According to the website "Eatforum," "The planetary health diet is a global reference diet for adults that is symbolically represented by half a plate of fruits and vegetables. The other half consists of primarily whole grains, plant proteins (beans, lentils, pulses, nuts), unsaturated plant oils, modest amounts of meat and dairy, and some added sugars and starchy vegetables."

(On a personal note, this isn't exactly my thing but there are overlaps with the way I eat as my husband and I do happen to eat plant-based.)

Another highlight I noted 'It is finally a beautiful day out and I remember that I need to buy a new camping chair to keep in the car.' Funny enough though, there was no way I would've been able to use a chair on this 'eventful' day.

For future 'less eventful' days, I'll set my sights on this surprisingly low priced affordable camping chair and add it to my shopping wish list.

My thoughts on the 'highlights of my day' project so far: Therapeutic, enjoyable - finally doable - writing.