![\"mountain](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/mountain-plover-4548-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a01\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0I suspect these two birds to be male and female but I don’t know that for sure as the sexes are similar in size and plumage.\u00a0 But this one has more red…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n while the other bird has less.<\/p>\n This species has a reputation\u00a0for being unwary and highly approachable, even tame.\u00a0 These birds demonstrated\u00a0no signs of nervousness in our presence (shooting from my pickup) and at times they approached my vehicle so closely that I simply put down my camera and watched them because they were too close to focus on or to get into the frame.\u00a0 I half expected them\u00a0to walk under my pickup at times but they didn’t.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/3200, f\/8, ISO 400, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Mountain Plovers forage on ground dwelling invertebrates, particularly insects and they’re very good hunters.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I watched as both birds snagged innumerable Arthropod prey, especially insect larvae.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n This species prefers sites that have\u00a0 been disturbed – prairie dog towns, areas where heavy sheep or cattle grazing has occurred, where vehicles have trampled the vegetation, etc.\u00a0 They’re extremely tolerant of vehicles, machinery, tractors – even aircraft.\u00a0 And they’re strongly attracted to burned areas for nesting and foraging – that attraction is so strong that they often show up on fields when the fires are still smoldering.\u00a0 Tall vegetation is avoided because they’re dependent on vision to detect potential predators while they forage or nest.<\/p>\n Both birds were foraging on an area of the island that is essentially a huge grass covered parking lot that is used by the state park for overflow camping and parking and for its many huge events such as the balloon festival and kite festival.\u00a0 It’s\u00a0driven on regularly and is often covered with hordes of people, horse trailers, campers and others.\u00a0\u00a0 Park personnel sometimes mow the area before an event.<\/p>\n In other words, these plovers were\u00a0where they were\u00a0because<\/em> the area\u00a0is\u00a0disturbed, which I find interesting.\u00a0 This is the only area of the island that I know of\u00a0\u00a0where you can leave the road in a vehicle and not only be legal but be improving the habitat for some species at the same time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Despite their closeness these plovers were quite difficult to photograph because it was hard to keep focus lock on them.\u00a0 They run quite fast for about 3 feet, stop and scope the ground\u00a0for insects, then run again in an unpredictable direction.\u00a0 They\u00a0 barely stop when they stretch their wings.\u00a0 I liked this pose but I sure wish I’d had eye contact.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The only sign of nervousness or alarm I ever\u00a0noticed from these plovers (and I saw it often)\u00a0was when a curlew, raven, hawk or gull flew overhead and then they became very nervous.\u00a0 When that would happen they would squat down and sit on their tarsi and move very little, making themselves as inconspicuous on the ground as possible.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/2000, f\/8, ISO 400, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0Here, after several minutes of defensive squatting after a large bird had flown over, one of the plovers is looking around to see if it’s safe to get up and continue foraging.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n