Piping plover chick, Sandy Point State Reservation

A young piping plover chick pauses for a moment and gives me a nice profile view while exploring the beach at Sandy Point State Reservation.

Sandpipers bracing against wind blown sand, Plymouth Beach

I've written about this a few times before, but a windy day along the beach really shows how tough these sandpipers are to withstand the harsh conditions of their life on the coast. On this blustery day, the wind repeatedly blasted the shorebirds with sand as they attempted to rest.

In the photo above, the wind was just starting to rise and a few individual grains of sand are visible bouncing off of the face of the dunlin in the foreground. A few moments later, the gust picked up speed and the scene started to dissolve in a cloud of blowing sand. I found it interesting to observe how the birds would instinctively turn directly into the wind as they brace against it, which makes sense given that they are aerodynamic in flight.

Submitted to this week's Wild Bird Wednesday.

Piping plover finished brooding, Sandy Point State Reservation

This piping plover chick was all warmed up and ready to slip out from under its parent's feathers. After watching these adorable little chicks earlier in the summer, it was great to see so many fledged piping plovers on the beach this past weekend. Hopefully it was a good year for their breeding numbers on Plum Island.

Semipalmated sandpiper probing the sand, Parker River NWR

With their rapid sewing machine motion as they probe the wet sand, it can be challenging to get a tack-sharp shot of a sandpiper with its beak deep in the sand -- but this frame kept all the details. I didn't see what it pulled up, but hopefully it was tasty.

Semipalmated sandpiper, Parker River National Wildlife Refuge

I went out for a sunrise session on Plum Island yesterday in the hope of finding some friendly sandpipers. I started at Sandy Point State Reservation, and when the light was beautiful, the peeps were skittish. It was a bit disappointing to see only a few small flocks of sandpipers despite the large swaths of exposed tidal flats. After losing the early light with nothing to show for it, I decided to head up the island and try one of the newly opened stretches of beach (Lots 6 & 7 both had beach access again, now that the piping plovers have fledged). I could see larger flocks of shorebirds to the north in the area that was still closed for nesting, and just a small flock of 4 semipalmated sandpipers was cruising the beach to the south. The light wasn't great and I didn't come back with too many keepers in the bunch, but it was a treat to quickly earn their trust as we leap-frogged each other down the beach. They were looking for food at the high edge of the tidal flats, and I could reliably drop myself 15 yards in front of them and wait for them to approach and pass at close range in front of my lens. We did this over an over again as we made our way down the beach together.

Semipalmated sandpiper in evening light, Sandy Point State Reservation

Digging deep into the archives for this one. It was taken on a terrific fall evening in 2012 that I spent with a flock of mixed shorebirds resting and preening on the beach. It was heavy overcast for most of my time there, but as the sun got closer to the horizon, it slipped below the cloud layer and cast beautiful warm light over everything -- including this semipalmated sandpiper resting near an old log on the beach.

Constant motion, Piping plover chick on Plum Island

When they're not brooding under a parent, tiny piping plover chicks seem to be in constant motion. Just like the adults, they have a sprint and stop motion as they cross the sand and watch for potential prey. I have found it hard for my lens to keep the face of the bird in focus when they move suddenly, but the bright light of the late morning sun helped the autofocus track this little one as it sprinted across the sand in front of me, momentarily paused to check something out, then shot off again.

Shared with Wild Bird Wednesday -- follow the link for this week's posts.

Brooding piping plover chicks, Sandy Point State Reservation

While it’s fun to capture portraits or action shots of piping plover chicks running about on their own, I’m partial to photographs of the interactions with their parents. It was four years ago that I had my first opportunities to photograph these special moments on Plum Island. On only my second trip to see the chicks, I had the encounter that I only dreamed would actually come together – a clean shot in sunrise light with all four chicks crammed under a parent and a mess of 10 legs sticking out the bottom. It’s a simultaneously comical and incredible sight. I’m always hopeful I’ll have a similar encounter again, but it hasn’t yet materialized in the same way. I love any type of brooding shot where you can see the young ones tucked underneath, and in these, three little fluff balls are trying to squeeze in together.

Small piping plover chick on a big beach, Plum Island

There were multiple broods of piping plover chicks exploring the beach at Sandy Point State Reservation on this June morning. By the time I made it around the main beach and over toward in the inlet, the sun was already getting pretty high in the sky. For most other subjects, it would easily have been time to pack up the gear and head home. But when you're photographing something that's just an inch or two above the ground, the light sand almost works like a giant reflector -- helping to reduce the contrasting shadows from underneath and extending the time for photography.

Sense of scale, Piping plover at Sandy Point State Reservation

Sometimes, while watching these birds on the beach through a large telephoto lens, you forget the sense of scale. Especially when their curiosity brings them close and they fill your viewfinder. But then one passes by a tiny plant in the sand, just three leaves on a side, and you remember how small these chicks are -- and how amazing it is that they're responsible for feeding themselves!

Under the watchful eye of a parent, Sandy Point State Reservation

A young piping plover chick exploring the beach as its parent watches in the background. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but the out of focus parent seems a bit frazzled to me as it's calling out and running down the beach. I suppose that's to be expected when you're trying to keep watch over four small chicks, each heading in a different direction!

Curious piping plover chick, Sandy Point State Reservation

Photographing piping plover chicks can be so rewarding since they're so curious. On many occasions during my recent trips to Sandy Point State Reservation, I’d get myself positioned in the sand a good distance away from the plovers, only to have them approach really close. For better or worse, they seem to be inquisitive about what the photographer is doing lying in the sand. It can be challenging to keep them in frame with a long telephoto at close range, so sometimes it’s worth just pulling up from my viewfinder to enjoy their remarkable cuteness with unaided eyes.

Piping plover chick at sunrise, Sandy Point State Reservation

The early morning alarms to get to the refuge entrance by sunrise can be rough in the weeks around the solstice, but it's always worth it when you have a chance to spend time with these adorable chicks bathed in the first light of the day.

Piping plover hug, Sandy Point State Reservation

The brooding behavior of piping plovers makes for such special photographic moments. While the precocial chicks are incredibly independent on the beach, they still check-in with their parents regularly to brood. If you're in the right place, this gives a great opportunity to capture short moments of direct interaction between the chick and its parent. In the photo above, a young chick approaches with the clear intention of snuggling under those insulating feathers. Having the two birds looking directly at each other adds a nice tenderness to the interaction.

I really love the two photo below though, after the two chicks have nestled in under the parent's wing. You can see the two small beaks peeking out from under the feathers, and I just have the sense that this must be what plover smiles would look like, in the embrace of a warm parental hug.

Co-parenting piping plover chicks, Sandy Point State Reservation

According to the field guides, it can be a little challenging to identify the sex of Atlantic Coast piping plovers. The notable difference is that the black brow bar and collar are more "bold" in the males. While I have generally not tried to distinguish this in my plover photography before, I had a unique opportunity to differentiate the mother and father of a parenting pair on a recent trip to Sandy Point State Reservation. This piping plover couple was caring for a brood of four chicks, and both parents were participating the family activities. It was interesting to see them actively trade off responsibilities between the male and female. This offered the chance to directly compare images of the two birds caring for the chicks. And in fact, one did have a much bolder mark between its brows, nearly touching the eyes (the male, pictured above), while the female's was more subtle (pictured below). Wishing the best of luck to these plover parents!

Willets in a tree, Parker River National Wildlife Refuge

While driving the road down the island in Parker River NWR, I'm always scanning for birds, hoping to find something interesting. The flight of two shorebirds caught my eye and I pulled over onto the shoulder to watch them pass. I was amazed to see them both land in a pine tree! I absolutely love shorebirds, and I've spent countless hours watching them -- but this was a totally new behavior to me. What a fun experience to see them perched on a tree branch, as if they were song birds. I'm not sure if a predator spooked them or what exactly was happening, and after maybe 10 minutes or so, they flew off again. A delightfully unexpected encounter for sure!

Room for one more? Piping plover chicks on Plum Island

This piping plover father was doing his best to keep his chicks safe and warm as they explored the tidal flats. In the photo above, two of his four chicks are nestled in to brood, and the third chick has just arrived. It also wanted to join-in, and tried to figure out how to get under those warm feathers as well.

It seemed to find a comfortable spot alongside its siblings by jamming itself under the wing too.

But then things got even more complicated when the fourth chick arrived.

It too wanted to warm up under the father plover, but there was limited space available for everyone.

The father seems to be going along with things here...

.... but I can't help but interpret this look as the piping plover version of "You've got to be kidding me!"

The dad seemed to sense this was getting a bit out of control and hopped off of his four chicks.

Once free, he then ran off to the warmer dry sand further up the beach and called his chicks to follow and try again.

Shared with Wild Bird Wendesday.

Piping plover chick ready to brood, Sandy Point State Reservation

My successful trips to Plum Island this year so far have been under overcast skies. While I enjoy the flexibility that this even light allows for wildlife photography, there is something special about moments that occur in the warm glow of the rising sun. Here are two images of a young chick looking for the right spot to brood under it's parent from a clear morning back in 2015. In the top frame, you can see the tiny legs of its siblings already taking up prime locations underwing.

Piping plover father and chick, Sandy Point State Reservation

It’s such a treat to see the interaction of a young animal and its parent. For piping plovers, who are responsible for feeding themselves from birth, a critical role of the parent is protection and shelter from the elements through brooding. Before these images were taken, this young chick was nestled under the feathers of its father. I would generally observe the chicks to stretch and run off to scour the beach almost immediately after pulling out from below the warm embrace. This particular chick seemed to want some additional reassurance this time though, snuggling up to its dad for quite a while before heading off again on its own.

Inquisitive piping plover, Sandy Point State Reservation

Summer trips to Sandy Point State Reservation always have the chance for piping plover chicks in the nesting colony there. I suspected that I was going to be a little too early for chicks when I took this trip on this first weekend in June, but it’s still fun to see the adults running around the beach. As I was attempting to work my way into a good position for the lone semipalmated sandpiper I encountered, this overly curious piping plover came into very close range to check out the photographer lying in the sand. It’s staccato stop-start running brought it into full-frame portrait realm, before coming so close that I hand to pull back from my telephoto since it was well-within the minimum focusing distance. Curious shorebirds are the best!