Plover party

We had a little potluck party this evening to celebrate a successful nesting season for "our" Piping Plovers at Seven President's Park... there was beer and pizza and homegrown tomatoes with basil and mozarella and homemade wine...

We plover monitors had logged better than 1500 volunteer hours (75~ of them myself) and babysat 4 healthy chicks throughout the beach season.

Wow!

I didn't take very many people pix while out on the beach, but this random beach-goer typifies the amused sort of tolerance of our antics we've trained the public into...

Can't you just see him wondering what all the fuss is about?

Endangered birds... what birds? Where?

: )

Linda is a veteran at this... she and I spent many an evening together at opposite ends of the beach shepherding people away from the chicks.

Click and look closely for two tiny young chicks feeding at her feet!

Marie is another volunteer that I spent a lot of time with... study her posture... she was fierce with young surfers who didn't think they had to follow everyone else's rules on "their" beach...

I had to include this pic of a plover chick running across my beach towel, just because...

: )

Someone on FB linked to an article in just the last couple days that almost suggested that Piping Plovers might do better on very peopled beaches... I wonder if that might not be true...

Public education can be our greatest advantage if we leverage it properly...

Anyway...

The party tonight was fun, but I think we all left wondering what we'll do with ourselves all winter...

: )

Going, going, gone

The photos I took on 30 July will likely be the last of the baby Piping Plovers...

; (

All 4 babies and their dad were still at the beach on 4 August, but my camera battery was dead...

; (

That evening, while we watched, 3 of them took a very serious-looking flight straight out over the ocean. It was the first prolonged flight I'd witnessed and it looked to me like they meant to head straight for the Bahamas.

; )

They came back, but I've heard since that dad and two of the babies have left for points south. 2 chicks were still around as of yesterday... I hope to get back for a couple last shots, but...

Seven President's Park is the only place in Monmouth County, besides Sandy Hook, that had Piping Plovers this season... and the season was a huge success for our pair!

; )

Bad bird photo of the week

Swallow song

Swallows are starting to gang up on the wires here in the mornings... I love to listen to their conversations while I wake up with coffee.

I haven't heard a Katydid yet, but I can feel the natural world turning towards Fall.

What about you in your part of the world? Can you see Fall despite the summer heat?

Tell me how you know it's coming...

Suddenly

Adolescence is, perhaps, nature's way of preparing parents to welcome the empty nest.

~Karen Savage and Patricia Adams, The Good Stepmother

Teenagers!

A little awkward and gawky... they don't mind boundaries well, anymore, or their parent's alarm call... and they're as likely to amble unawares into a group of Greater Black-Backs as to snuggle sweetly under dad's wing... they nap together during the hottest part of the afternoon and then scatter to the wind to feed as the sun sets.

It's getting harder to keep track of them... harder to tell them apart from their dad at a distance.

It's been a full week since I've seen them... and suddenly they have wings... suddenly they're plovers.

(g)

I will not cry

There was an evening last week, before the heat wave descended, when the beach was cool and thick with fog, like it is when the Piping Plovers first return in March.

I had to search hard to find my little charges, so completely gray was their world; the sky, sea and sand blending into nothingness.

I've come to know these birds for the little flashes of light that precede them. Their movement, on the periphery of my awareness, is the only thing that gives them away.

They seemed suddenly fearful that evening, aware of my presence and the camera pointed their way. They approached, hesitant in their feeding along the waterline, and skittered past me quickly.

This, too, is a part of their growing up, I guess.

Mama Plover has been gone for almost two weeks now, leaving them in the care of their father. He is even more vigilant since, calling the alarm at my approach and distracting me away from his chicks with a game of hide and seek in the sand.

A part of me wants to play that game with him, to see just where, exactly, he might distract me away to...

Instead I step back and stay away and try to remain separate. These four chicks are not mine. I'm not totally in love with them. I will not miss them, already, before they've learned to fly and are gone as the goldenrod sweeps over the dunes.

I will not cry at their growing up.

Shade x 4

I was only able to stand a couple hours on the beach in yesterday's ridiculously hot temps, but was glad to see the plover chicks had managed to find some respite from the sun.

: )

Anyone know how much heat is radiated off of beach sand in full sun when air temps are 100+ degrees?

Watch me grow!

If I'm not careful, I'm going to have to change the name of this blog to "The Daily Plover".

: )

These are some of my favorite pix from the past week. Understand that nearly every photo is a favorite and I take upwards of 100 photos of these babies each time I'm out with them. I'm considering wallpapering my place with them I have so many!

We're still watching over 4 chicks; we try not to hover and worry too close, but if you sit still enough they'll scuttle right past your toes. This afternoon I was sure one was going to invite itself into someone's beach bag!

They're 3 weeks old now and have the funniest tail feathers... little duck butts! I saw the largest of the 4 testing its wings a bit this afternoon in the high dunes... it won't be long before they're flying.

Gulls continue to be a source of anxiety for us all... you need only see one carry away a tern chick one time to understand how quickly a gull can act when the opportunity presents itself. The public is still mostly supportive and cooperative, save for the occasional gang of teenage boys or the dopes on cell phones who think the rules don't apply to them. I've had to use my teacher voice a lot in the last couple days!

At a premium

This past weekend marked the point in the chicks' growth where all four of them no longer fit so easily under mom/dad plover... so they had to find shade elsewhere!

Here they're hunkered down in the sand at the base of the ropes demarcating the closed area of the beach... in front of them is the 25 foot "buffer zone" we roped off once the chicks hatched. Beyond that is open beach and the blazing sun.

For adult eyes only

So... this Least Tern flies into a busy colony, finds a single girl looking lonely and offers her a fish...

; )

The fish is waved endlessly about in a teasing sort of way...

Notice how possession of the fish has changed ownership at this point in the dance...

; )

This is what I meant by "flirting with fish"... a slightly voyeuristic pleasure I've been able to enjoy and share with the casual unsuspecting beach-goer over the last couple weeks.

: )

It's been fun to point out the naughtiness that's taking place right under their sunburned noses...

So while a number of Least Terns continue to mate, the chicks of their neighbors are beginning to test their wings to fly for the first time... I'm looking forward to that in the coming week!

At one point late in the afternoon yesterday, something panicked the colony and set all the adults to the air and every last chick running toward the shoreline, toward the boundary of their protected area, toward the open beach and the kite-flying, volleyball-playing, sun-marinated and clueless public.

I'm not quite ready for that, yet.

A coming-out party

I have pix of plover chicks from this afternoon that are just oozing sweetness, but I'm going to hold them close for a few days...

: )

Instead I want to share pix from last weekend, the Fourth of July, when the beaches were packed with people and the chicks were just barely a week old...

The important thing to know is that we all survived the holiday weekend; despite the hordes of people, the fireworks on the beach, the blazing sun and the occasional thunderstorm.

The parents kept the brood of four chicks close and spent the hottest part of each day in the high dunes.

Often an adult plover gathered the babies into the feathers of his/her breast to provide shade or comfort.

Plover chicks have to feed themselves so they must venture out onto the open beach to feed...

This is a dangerous time and they're vulnerable; everyone is nervous... their parents... us volunteers...

The wrack line was relatively safe, though a parent was always close by to keep anyone from wandering too far from safety...

The volunteer monitors spent our time ushering people away from the ropes and feeding chicks. The chicks were mostly impossible to see at this point, so it took some convincing for people to actually believe there were baby plovers around.

We cheered them on each time they made their way to the waterline to feed.

They're growing nicely and my camera is finding them much easier to focus on... if they ever stand still that is! Watching them feed is like watching a game of "Red Light, Green Light"... remember that as a kid?

: )

These babies can run!

The adult birds are still happy to pose!

*Please note that I haven't cropped any of these pix, so please click to enlarge. Half the joy in this is watching them grow up and a big part of understanding the challenges these birds face is seeing them life-size in their surroundings, I think.

Hide and seek

Click!

The adult plovers have the curious habit of disguising themselves in the occasional hollow of people's footprints in the sand... it amazes me how skillfully they disappear from sight this way!

Plover dreams

Piping plovers are running through my days and my dreams. I have stories to tell and photos to share, but little energy...

Trying to be loved

Us sing and dance, make faces and give flower bouquets, trying to be loved. You ever notice that trees do everything to git attention we do, except walk? ~Alice Walker, The Color Purple, 1982

This tree, somewhere in spring in West Virginia, was totally trying to be loved.

: )

Good PR

"Please watch where you step!" was the catchphrase for today, delivered with a smile to surfers and fishermen and young girls in tiny bikinis. Always the smile.

I'm in the PR business now, for Piping Plovers. Smiles are good PR*.

And there was plenty to smile about... it was a beautiful day, I got to see the sunrise over the ocean, and there were teeny-tiny Plovers afoot. (This is an adult, tho)

The Least Tern colony that the Plovers share was frantic today... I was dive-bombed at least a dozen times. That's not such good PR, but it serves an important purpose.

At some point, midmorning, an adult Piping Plover carried and dropped this half eggshell near the ropes of the closed area. A khaki-colored egg flecked with brown that indicated #3 of 4 had hatched.

At sunset today, after 11+ hours of watching, a chick was finally within camera-shooting distance near the upper wrack line, #4 still hadn't hatched, and I ended the best day at the beach in a good long while.

These babies are so incredibly tiny... like little bugs... like a mirage in the hot sand.

They are their own best PR... how could anyone resist such cuteness?!?

*One thing I love about the group that I'm volunteering with is that they've managed to get the general beach-going public on our side... they ask about how the birds are doing and help us to police the area... it feels as if the community is caring for these birds, which is very sweet.

Tern love

The terns have been on eggs for weeks now, in all their exposed locations along the shore. Their dedication is inspiring; no less so because of the challenges they face.

The opportunity to watch them, to babysit them - as I've come to call it lately - reveals the little dramas that fill their days. Least Terns seem prone to drama. They continue to court and strut, and flirt with fish, even after the eggs have been laid.

Sometimes they even seem to dance, making even a mundane nest exchange into theater for the careful observer. They're aggressive and anxious, even with their mates. Neighbors are met with outright hostility for the slightest trespass. A gull or Fish Crow overhead sends the small colony into panicked flight.

I've been trying for the past week or two to get a photo of a nest with eggs to share here, but haven't accomplished that yet. The few looks I've had are too brief for a photo, but I can tell you this: the eggs are speckled with rock and sky and summer sands, and with the shadows woven by the beach grass that surrounds them.

Chicks have started to hatch in the last couple days and they are nearly as undetectable as the eggs they leave behind. Until they move, that is! There are two hidden in the tuft of beach grass to the right in the photo above.

Unlike Piping Plovers who are off and running to feed themselves within hours, the Least Terns scuttle around in the dunes waiting to be fed. Theirs is a steep learning curve; before they can learn to fish, these babies must learn to fly.

Until then, they rely on their parents for food and their cryptic coloration to keep them safe. "I am not here" say the markings on their sand-colored bodies, the lines and patches magically drawing your eye away from them. No sooner do you catch sight of one, then, look away and it vanishes.

Please click on the pic above to make it larger. Let yourself fall in love a little... I did!

This pic isn't mine, but I include it for the "Awww" factor.

I've had some really wonderful interactions with beach visitors so far... most are respectful of the closed area of the beach and actually interested in the birds. Fun! I'm looking forward to setting up the scope there one of these days so others can see them and share some of the love.

Mid-week bunny fix

Freckles on a summer day...

(she's 10 this year!)

Off duty

I caught sight of this Piping Plover late in the afternoon as she(?) stretched her legs and went off to feed in the surf; she'd just been relieved of nest-sitting duties by her mate. She preened her feathers some, stretched her wings and disappeared into the crowd of sun-worshipers.

Her eggs are expected to hatch in about 14 days!

A craving, satisfied

As the peak of summer bloom approaches, a foray into the local botanical garden offers something that feels like meditation. With the familiar heft of my camera in hand, I am occupied with wonder. There, just there, tucked into a sunny corner of the demonstration garden, a patch of lavender is busy with bees...

Last summer I was craving a Lensbaby; I will likely spend this summer making many mistakes in learning how to use its wide-angle and bendy-action to best effect. I hope you'll enjoy seeing in a new way along with me.

Mid-week bunny fix

Suddenly, baby cottontails seem to be everywhere, as do ticks.