Journal of a Sabbatical

The Plover Warden Diaries

fog

May 4, 1998

Previous Entry Journal Index an online journal - how i quit my high-tech job for a life of guarding piping plover nests, washing litterboxes, and driving nieces to piano lessons and lived to tell about it Piping Plover Page my adventures as a plover warden, links to info about piping plovers   Plum Island Page brief intro to Plum Island, lots of links   Other Bird Lists Anza-Borrego/Salton Sea Watchemocket Cove Bird List	x	x	n	This morning is cold and foggy. The fog ebbs and flows like the tide only on a much shorter cycle. Every 15 minutes the fog has either come in or gone out. I started taking notes on it, partly because I was fascinated with it and partly because there were few visitors on the beach. A few of the entries: 12:10 PM The fog is closing in again. To the north I can see just about the first five houses on the inhabited end of the beach. To the south I can see just past the big driftwood pile to the first large dune. A few minutes ago I could see the jetty to the north, indistinct but visible. 2:00 PM I can't see the houses to the north at all, not one of them. I can barely pick out the big pile of driftwood to the south. One piping plover has been sitting at the wrack line for nearly an hour. Earlier, it was running along the water line feeding. 2:20 PM The fog is out again, revealing the houses and the driftwood pile respectively. The piping plover in the wrack runs to the water. The one feeding at the water flies a little way to the south making the pipe-pipe-pipe call. The piping plover pair actually comes within about 10 feet of me as the tide comes in. I've been watching them for well over an hour through my scope and through binoculars, but they 're now close enough that the scope won't focus on them. I was standing stock still and when they came onto my side of the fence, and I've stilled myself even more. I don't know how that's possible but I have. They tap their feet on the thin film of water left by the retreating wave and grab bugs and worms out of the sand. I never saw that foot tapping thing before. I don't think I was ever this close. I was alone the whole time I was watching the plovers. I only had about 4 visitors the whole shift and they were all sort of clumped around the same time. All of them needed to have the beach closure explained and they asked lots of questions, which took my mind off being cold. Once the plovers showed themselves to me, I totally forgot about the cold. I felt like they were rewarding me for being there by letting me get a glimpse into their lives. I could see both of them really clearly and just watched and watched and watched. I didn't want to take my eyes off of them. It sounds corny, but I felt my heart fill with joy.
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