The Snowy Plover is resident here in Florida, but is usually just found along the Gulf Coast side. There are a few subspecies of Snowy Plover. Ours is sometimes referred to as the Cuban Snowy Plover, Charadrius nivosus tenuirostris. It is found along the Gulf Coast of Florida, some Caribbean Islands, Northern Yucatan Peninsula, and Northern Venezuela. It is paler above than the other subspecies, the Western Snowy Plover, in North America.
I always start by creating a template based on scientific measurements from specimens as close to the birds Im carving. So I had to find measurement from Florida birds. Usually these are in old books that record the measurements of the bill, wing, tail, tarsus, and toe, in millimeters (which is so helpful!)
Carving out the shape from a block of wood, and using the template as a guide.
So its almost entirely shaped. this is where I will do more detail work and lots of sanding!
Fast forward, to after the bird was finished being painted. The construction of legs was a new thing for me. Usually I just use a dowel, and shape it a bit, but this time I made legs out of wire and wood. Its a very delicate process but it looks so much better! I painted the little mound of sand (made out of wood) to look like the sand at Lovers Key State Park. Also notice how it only has 3 toes; some shorebirds don't have a hind toe, such as the Sanderling!
A day at the beach! This is in Destin, Florida on the Florida Panhandle. The finished Snowy Plover with my hatchling Black Skimmer, and a Least Tern in the background. I did see quite a few Least Terns, and a nice amount of shorebirds, but no Snowy Plovers here. This was mid-May so some of the shorebirds were in breeding plumage, which was neat to see!
