Willet on a quiet morning, Bunche Beach Preserve

Warm morning light, still water, and the slow gait of this willet through the shallow tidal pool combine to transport me to a serene setting of quiet solitude. While the beach had plenty of action that morning, this image encapsulates the internal silence I often experience while photographing wildlife.

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Portrait of a juvenile white ibis, Bunche Beach Preserve

I've been posting a series of photographs lately of tiny juvenile piping plovers, so I thought I'd mix it up with a substantially larger youngster. This handsome bird is a less than a year-old white ibis that I photographed in March at Bunche Beach Preserve in Ft Myers, Florida. Seeing this species is a highlight of any trip to Florida, and we saw probably 20 or so juveniles on a kayaking trip through the mangroves in Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. Though it wasn't until the next morning that I was able to get a close enough view to see those beautiful blue eyes.

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Piping plover parent with chick underwing, Sandy Point State Reservation

Another interesting tidbit I came across while reading up on piping plovers recently, in addition to what I posted yesterday about plover chicks being entirely responsible for feeding themselves, is related to the role of the parents. While both the male and female share responsibility for incubating the nest, it is relatively common for the female to abandon the brood within a week of the chicks hatching. That leaves the male in charge of protecting the chicks until they fledge a few weeks later. I'm not sure if this is a male or female parent, but there is a very young chick tucked under its left wing. You can see a tiny leg sticking out and the top of its downy head under the popped-up feathers.

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Tiny voracious predator, Piping plover chick at Sandy Point State Reservation

When I was looking up information about how to identify a piping plover fledgling, I came across an interesting fact -- piping plover chicks are entirely responsible for feeding themselves! While watching the chicks on the beach at Sandy Point Reservation on multiple occasions this summer, I was interested to observe how much time they seemed to spend catching bugs. They appeared to be on a constant search for food, which now makes a lot of sense to me. It would also seem to explain why all of the chicks in the same clutch would often run in separate directions after warming up under their parent. Pretty incredible to think that a few hours after they hatch, these adorable tiny predators are already leaving the nest and looking for prey.

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Early morning blues, Piping plover on Plum Island

Nothing much to be blue about on this morning (or any morning when you're out to do some photography at sunrise!) unless you're the morning light reflecting off the water in the background. I took this photograph on a mid-July trip to Sandy Point State Reservation on Plum Island, and I suspect that this is a fledgling from one of the piping plover clutches I saw as tiny chicks in early June.

View more of my photographs of piping plovers.