Wilson’s plover behavior. Before he left, he transferred over his
Wilson’s plover flags to me and trained me on his techniques for
capturing and banding them. I plan to continue his research on
Kiawah.”
Chris’s fascination with Wilson’s plovers in particular
began in 2006 when he encountered what he describes as “a
cotton ball on toothpicks.” It was, in fact, a plover chick that
he discovered at Lighthouse Inlet at the northeast end of Folly
Beach. The chick was evidence that plovers were nesting on
Folly Beach where he then began studying them more closely.
In 2010, he began banding adult birds with color-coded markers.
He captures them by coaxing them into mist nets (nylon nets
between two poles) and approaching them slowly from behind so
that they will move forward into the net.
Over the last four years Snook has banded 18 adult
Wilson’s plovers. He knows the bird and its physiology so well,
he has developed his own band placement. Because the bird does
not have a hind toe, a band placed at the bottom of its leg would
have a tendency to slip off. To prevent this from happening, he
places his band on the upper part of the bird’s right leg. This
method has had excellent results. Since 1960, The Bird Banding
Laboratory at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel,
Maryland, has had reports of 533 banded Wilson’s plovers. Of
these birds only 12 have been encountered subsequently (dead,
re-captured or photographed) and of those 12, 9 have had Chris’s
bands on them.
Chris returned to his native country in June of this year
but has his eye and his bird scope focused on returning to the
Lowcountry again soon. Until then, we and the Wilson’s plovers
will be waiting with eager anticipation for his next visit. n
Photographs page 31 and bottom of this page courtesy of Pamela Cohen
Photographs top and right side of this page courtesy of Jack Kotz
32