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Exciting Snowy Plover news
On Saturday, 20 July 2019, two Snowy Plover were on the beach at Santa Rosa Creek in Cambria. I sent photos to Regena Orr, Environmental Scientist with California State Parks, and asked for help in identifying the plover with the colored bands on its legs.
She wrote, "This is an exciting sighting! The banded female plover was banded at Fort Ord State Park in 2015. She’s pretty much always stayed at Villa Creek Beach within Estero Bluffs State Park since 2015. This year, she had three nests at Villa Creek – two hatched and one failed to Gull. Her last nest hatched on July 15th. She was also seen at Villa Creek on the 19th so just the day before you saw her."
I said I hoped the chicks were okay. Regena Orr knows more about the Snowy Plover than I do, writing back, "The male should be taking care of the chicks. The female usually leaves soon after the nest hatches."
If you walk on Santa Rosa Creek Beach in the next week or two, do watch where your feet step. The second Snowy Plover might well be a new male for the female. She might lay eggs for the 4th time this summer. If that happens on Santa Rosa Creek Beach, it would be rare good news. So let's keep our eyes out for these threatened birds (federally endangered) and keep our distance. (The photos below were taken with zoom lens, not close up.)

Here is the link to a California State Parks brochure about the Snowy Plover:
https://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/937/files/snowyplover.pdf