… on the 16th of September and this year the theme is books, fiction or otherwise, around plovers.
I have a reasonable collection of bird books, around 1,000 at the last count, of which 70 odd are specifically about waders. Of those I have found eleven which concern plovers in particular. They range from a children’s picture book, to a book about Golden Plover Pluvialis apricaria trapping in Dutch! Here they are…
Figure 1:
- Goudplevieren en wilsterflappers – eeuwenoude fascinatie voor trekvogels (Golden Plovers and Wilsterneters – a deeply rooted fascination with migrating birds): Joop Jukema, Theunis Piersma, Jan B. Hulscher, Erik J. Bunskoeke, Anita Koolhaas & Arend Veenstra (2001).
- Tundra Plovers: The Eurasian, Pacific and American Golden Plovers and Grey Plover: Ingvar Byrkjedal & Des Thompson (1998).
- The Lapwing: Michael Shrubb (2007).
Figure 2:
- The Dotterel: Desmond Nethersole-Thompson (1973).
- The Lapwing: Eric Ennion (1949).
- Plovers: Richard Vaughan (1980).
Figure 3:
- Hawai’i’s Kōlea -The Amazing Transpacific Life of the Pacific Golden Plover: Oscar W. Johnson & Susan Scott (2016).
- Letters to the Family – The Story of an Endangered Shorebird [Hooded Plover]: Mike & Rose Clear (2010).
- Life and Times of Pink Lady: The Pink Lady Herself (2010).
Figure 4:
- Alexandrinus – Cuaderno de Campo de una Limícola Amenazada (Alexandrinus – Field Notebook of an Endangered Wader): José Arcas (2021).
- Adventure Lit Their Star: Kenneth Allsop (1962).
The remit for the event’s theme mentions fiction books and surely they must be few and far between? That said I have one that I can highly recommend. Adventure Lit their Star by Kenneth Allsop. A superb book about one of the pioneering Little Ringed Plovers Charadrius dubius pairs that colonised the UK in the 1930s. It is a charming book if you can get hold of a copy.
The remaining books are all either science based or for children. In Figure 1 the first book Goudplevieren en wilsterflappers is written in Dutch with an English summary and concerns the European Golden Plover and the history of the Wilsternetters who trapped many of these birds in the Netherlands (Wilster is another name for Golden Plover) and how the skills they used are now being used to help in their research and conservation. The remaining two books in that picture are Poyser monographs, one covering all the Pluvialis plovers, otherwise known as Tundra Plovers and the other about my all time favourite bird, The Lapwing which deals with the Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus specifically although other species get a brief mention.
In Figure 2 we have three more monographs, the classic The Dotterel by Nethersole-Thompson about the Eurasian Dotterel Eudromias morinellus. The next is much older and concerns The Lapwing again but this time with the beautiful illustrations of Ennion throughout the book. The last is more recent than the Dotterel tome and is simply called Plovers and is about the ‘British’ plovers, namely Kentish Anarhynchus alexandrinus, Common Ringed Charadrius hiaticula, Little Ringed, Dotterel, European Golden and Grey Plovers P. squatarola and the Lapwing.
Figure 3 Has a book concerning the Hawai’i’s Kōlea or Pacific Golden Plover Pluvialis fulva a bird that is important to, and well loved by, the Hawaiians, particularly those who have a regular wintering bird ‘in their yard’. Also in this photo are two children’s books. Quite different but equally charming and educational. The first is about the Hooded Plovers Charadrius cucullatus of Australia Letters to the Family based on a series of emails that the authors sent to grandchildren concerning their encounters with these wonderful little birds and includes many photographs of the birds mentioned in the text. The other, Life and Times of Pink Lady is written in both English and Spanish and tells the true story of a particular female Snowy Plover Anarhynchus nivosus who was hatched from an egg by researchers when the mother was taken from the nest by a hawk. The pictures in the book are all done by local schoolchildren in Mendocino, California.
The last picture, Figure 4, has just two books. One is a beautifully illustrated book by José Arcas, who tells us all about the conservation and life of the Kentish Plovers using their scientific name as the title and showcasing his wonderful and very skillful artworks from his field sketchbook. The last is the aforementioned Adventure Lit Their Star, by Kenneth Allsop.
So, all that remains now, is to go out and appreciate your plovers, wherever you happen to be in the world on Plover Appreciation Day 16th September.
#PloverAppreciationDay #PAD2024 #Ploverbooks
Pi