By Paul Buttner
As the wildlife guy for the California rice industry, I often draw the short straw by having to drive around and see all the beautiful wildlife that use California wildlife. It's a tough job but somebody’s got to do it! Nearly 230 species use these fields, some more than others. This list includes over a dozen species of beautiful shorebirds from the small Western Sandpiper to the much larger Long-billed Curlew.
Each of these shorebirds occupies its own special niche on the farming landscape. The one that always mystifies me is the Killdeer. This is because the Killdeer loves to lay its eggs on gravel roads. Yes, the same gravel roads that cars drive upon. Yet the species lives on!
Grower Mike DeWit of DeWit Family Farms has developed a highly complex Killdeer egg protection system.
Once he locates the eggs through careful observation of the movement of the parents, he places the perfect cardboard box on the roadway forcing him and all of his crew to drive on the other side of the road until the new arrivals hatch. In this case, he unofficially joins forces with John Deere (see the logo on the box) but I’m sure he has shared the glory with other product manufacturers over the years.
I can vouch for how acceptable the cardboard box protection system was to the mother birds. This is because my first photo had one egg. However, when I stopped on my way out, less than one hour later, there were two!
I tip my hat to Mike for going extra mile (literally!) to preserve the beautiful birds calling his farm home. Many of these special shorebirds are in decline globally and can use all the help they can get.
Paul Buttner is Environmental Affairs Manager for the California Rice Commission.
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