Ocean Watch

It feels lonely at our house this week. For the last eight months, we've been host to several dear friends, and now they've all flown home. And I mean flown. The friends I speak of are Pacific golden plovers, the migratory shorebirds that have captured the hearts of countless Hawaii residents.

In August each year, these elegant birds migrate from their Arctic breeding grounds to Hawaii, where they spend the winter plucking bugs and worms from grassy areas.

In spring the birds gain weight, and their feathers turn a beautiful gold, black and white, called breeding plumage. The colors get brighter and brighter until late April. Then, over a few days, nearly all the birds take off for Alaska. The few that stay behind are either underweight, injured or too old to make the trip.

In Alaska, plovers spend May, June and July working like mad to raise their four chicks. Then, in August the adults head back to Hawaii. Chicks born that year leave the tundra later and arrive here, if they make it, in October. Mortality is high for these youngsters, which must make the long trip unaided and then fight for territory when they get here.

Most of us plover fans know the basic facts about our favorite birds, but there is still much to be learned. That's why I jumped at the chance to hear a talk given last week by plover researchers Wally and Pat Johnson. Here are a few new things I learned from these dedicated plover lovers:

>> The Johnsons placed radio tags on 20 Hawaii birds this year. Alaska workers found the first one 70 hours after the bird left. That's the record so far, although no one knows how long the bird had been in Alaska before it was spotted. Wally thinks the actual average migration time is somewhere around 40 to 50 hours.

>> The best thing to feed plovers in your yard during winter is hard-boiled eggs. The birds love them, and the eggs provide both protein and fat.

>> In Hawaii the plovers' biggest predators are not cats and mongooses, but barn owls, which swoop down at night and grab the birds. Cats and mongooses don't concern plovers much, probably because the birds see them coming and fly away.

>> Parent plovers don't feed their chicks. They sit on the chicks to keep them warm for about a day after hatching, then the kids are mostly on their own. Since Alaska has nearly 24 hours of daylight in the summer, the chicks eat around the clock and grow quickly.

Why do people love these birds so much? Wally points out that plovers have several features we humans find attractive in animals. First, these birds have historical significance. Ancient Hawaiians both revered and ate plovers, and they were mentioned in accounts of Capt. Cook's voyages.

Next, these birds have learned to live with humans -- no small feat. When it comes to sharing the planet with people, animals either adapt or go extinct. Plovers are survivors.

Besides their adaptability, we admire plovers' delicate beauty and graceful carriage. Yet when the need arises, these 6-ounce birds can fly like the wind and fight like The Rock. Plovers are Superbirds.

Probably our most favorite plover trait is their habit of coming back to the same spot year after year. This allows us to get to know our birds individually, and they feel like pets.

That's why it seems so lonely around here when they're gone. I'm counting the days until our August reunion.