Catching Up with the Piping Plovers of Forest Beach

Now that the Piping Plovers at Red River Beach have all fledged, I’ve been sifting thru’ a month’s worth of photos from my trips to the other local nesting areas.

The Forest Beach chicks appear to be a couple of weeks behind the Red River brood, and I was thrilled to capture this tender moment when a young chick who’d been scuttling all over the beach in search of aquatic bugs…

Suddenly needed the familiar comfort and warmth of the parent plover.

In the quickest of moves, under those soft white breast feathers he crawled…

Disappearing completely from sight.

Having watched these families for weeks now I can usually tell when one of the adults, nestled down in the sand, is tending to a chick. There’s a certain “plumpness” and stillness to them that you begin to recognize.

And then, if you watch closely, after just a few minutes…

The tiny chick is usually up, and ready once again to rock and roll!

The chicks grow quickly and won’t always need their parents in this same physical way.

Which is what I find makes these tender, early moments shared between them, so incredibly precious.

Aren’t Piping Plover families the best?!  ❤

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