How Do They Do It?

Mountain Plovers are among the birds I most look forward to seeing each Arizona winter, when small, apparently nomadic flocks inhabit a few traditional areas of bare fields and pasture. Sometimes a bird’s beauty is enhanced by its rarity, but I firmly believe that this would be a bird to admire for hours on end even if it weren’t one of the scarcest waders in the world.

Who could fail to love a face that sweet?

Friday’s birds let us approach to within a car’s length, and once they’d determined that we were no threat, they returned to their leisurely afternoon toilette, preening and stretching. And as we watched, we discovered that this species is an “indirect scratcher,” raising the foot over the wing, rather than reaching under the wing, to relieve an itch on the head or neck.

It’s the rare day when a birder doesn’t learn something new.