I’ve mentioned Todd Pover’s uncanny ability to find beach nesting bird nests before. Whether he’s finding nests remotely, in locations he has never even visited, or finding nests in the future that don’t even exist yet, his bizarre abilities seem to operate outside the fabric of space and time itself.
I’ve also mentioned his inconceivable ability to confront trespassers and illegal dog walkers with a folksy grace that leaves offenders thanking him for ruining their day, with no sarcasm whatsoever. I never talk to illegal dog walkers. It’s the one situation when you are almost guaranteed to see all of the ugliest parts of human nature: selfish entitlement, willful animal cruelty, extreme hostility, and sometimes, even violence. Yet Todd somehow casts his casually folksy spell on beach-goers like a great hypnotist or shaman. I swear I even once saw a stranger hug Todd right before they leashed up their dog and removed it from the park at his insistence.
But yesterday, things reached a whole ‘nother level. Yesterday the 12th piping plover nest was found in Barnegat Light. 12 nests is a record beyond any record that anyone even dared dream. Anyone except for me, of course. I have been explicitly demanding that Todd deliver me a dozen nests for years; but only because the goal was far enough out of reach to be essentially impossible, yet near enough to dream, so that it would keep everyone uncomfortably on their toes. I was, literally, just being a trolling jerk every time I said “but Todd promised me 12 nests.”
Yet now, here we are.
So I’m now completely convinced that Todd is one of the those wish fulfilling genies, and therefore that I’ve just used up my last wish.
Here are the 3 times Todd Pover somehow granted my wishes:
#1 When I wished to see my first piping plover on the beach
Admittedly, Todd kept me at arms length at first, well over a decade ago. Like most seasons before Plover Park was built, when I first reached out to Mr. Pover, who was then running the beach nesting program at NJFW, Barnegat Light was having a disastrous season. But when, later that summer, the legendary Tufters marched his 3 remaining chicks miles through the dune to relocate them along the inlet, Todd reached out to me.
He told me, well, they were not really a secret anymore as they ran under people’s feet at the inlet, and besides… now that they are in such a crazy place, he could probably use all the people he could find to watch out for them, and to give him reports on how they are doing out there. (Oh boy, did he get more than he bargained for on that one, lolz!)
I threw his email to the floor and ran out to the park, where I almost immediately stepped on Tufters, Tacey, and their 3 chicks.
My life has never been the same since that first afternoon, as you can probably tell.
(Note: I hope Kathy Clark never reads this because she’ll be like “Hey, I actually granted you that wish!” When I helped Ben & Kathy dream up Project Red Band for osprey, Kathy asked if there was anything she could do to say thank you. I replied “Yes, really I want to see one of these piping plovers. I’ve never seen one.” She actually led me to Todd, which led to the interaction above!)
#2 When I wished all piping plovers could be banded so I could name them and know their life stories
Todd was instrumental in his support of Michelle Stantial’s PHD work here that led to mass bandings of our piping plover. And it all began in Barnegat Light.
I remember I had been out with the great Scott Weidensaul trying to trap Mr. Handbersome; the whitest and most beautiful snow owl that ever visited our island. Unfortunately, we got skunked and struck out. Todd heard about this through the grapevine, and sent me a kind email of condolence, knowing how disappointed I must be. To make me feel just a little better, he hinted about a big banding project that might be happening in the next season, and offered to attempt to see if, maybe, I could come along to photograph it.
He came through on this, and with great fortune I met Michelle Stantial and Emily Heiser at the inaugural banding, on my home turf, Barnegat Light, with my spark bird, the late, great, Tufters.
My life has also never been the same since that afternoon, as you can probably tell.
And neither have the lives of our beach nesting birds.
(Note: I really hope Emily & Michelle are not reading this right now. Can you hear them? “Good Lord Jim! It was WE who granted you this wish, not Todd!”)
#3 When I wished we could grow from just one, sad pair in Barnegat Light, to a dozen thriving pairs.
It’s funny, but you’d think I’d be counting the 3rd wish Todd granted as Plover Park itself. But as I’ve detailed before in The Mostly True Story of How I Didn’t Invent Plover Park, at the same time I had wished for such a place, Todd Pover had already wished for a much better, and more realistic, version of the same thing. So technically, and I’m not sure if this is kosher according the Code of Genie Conduct, but he was granting his own wish when he built it.
And besides, it was never about the park itself. It’s always been about the sad lives of the animals. It’s been about creating a small place, free from human needs and activities, where our rapidly vanishing, local wildlife could maintain a tiny foothold on their continued existence. It’s always been about one thing: more local birds restored to their native habitat. This is bigger than even the park, because what’s happening there is spilling out over into the rest of the world.
(Note: I really hope Elly is not reading this right now. I can hear her sighing, “C’mon Jim! I granted you that wish! I found the nest you didn’t even believe in!” Because she found the 12th nest; and she found it by never giving up on a sad little unbanded pair in the worst part of town, who everybody else, myself included, had already given up on.)
I should be in a total panic right now, as, if true, this all means one thing: I just used up my last wish. I’m done. No more ammo.
But I’m not in a panic, because I am totally overwhelmed by what is happening out on the beach. I try so hard to document it and share it, and to help people understand what’s going on out there… the dramatic scale of it.. but it’s ineffable. I can’t be any more than the finger pointing at the moon. The stories I share here are just little fingers. There is this massive moon rising over Barnegat Light that is absolutely breathtaking and almost impossible to describe. I’m truly at a loss.
So I guess you’ll just have to trust me as your witness. Wishes come true, genies are real, and Barnegat Light is utterly transformed and absolutely lousy with endangered beach nesting birds!
It’s not hyperbole to call it what it truly is: miraculous. So miraculous that it’s almost easier to believe that Todd Pover is a wish fulfilling genie.
Say something kind