Early this past Tuesday morning, I again started questioning my sanity. Getting up and around to be on the road by 2:30 just doesn’t seem to have the thrill I once thought it might. At least traffic was light until I got into Massachusetts. I headed down to look for shorebirds and whatever else might appear. My timing proved to be pretty good.
A little housekeeping before we get to the photos. Several of you have emailed with tips or sightings. It looks like I’m having trouble getting messages through to Gmail addresses. I’m working on figuring out why. I try to answer all the messages I get. If you use Gmail and sent an email that didn’t get a reply, I’m sorry. I was able to track down a few people by phone, but couldn’t find numbers for everyone. If you didn’t get a reply, please send another email with a way to contact you that isn’t Gmail.
Want to learn to take your own wildlife photos? I’ll be speaking to the Upper Valley Camera Club at the AVA Gallery, 11 Bank Street, Lebanon, NH next Tuesday, June 10 at 6:30 pm. The talk is aimed at folks with a 35mm camera with interchangeable lenses. The wildlife we’re going to talk about is almost all within reach of a day trip from the Upper Valley. Sorry, no lions, tigers or elephants. Hopefully, I’ll have lots of useful tips. Free and everyone welcome, but they request you register beforehand at https://avagallery.org/event/june-monthly-meeting/.
And one more, I’ll be at the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen’s Fair a the Mount Sunapee Resort in Newbury, NH August 2-10, 2025 with lots of new prints, cards and 2026 calendars. I’m planning on traveling for much of the fall and will miss many of the shows I usually do. The League has a number of amazingly talented craftspeople, the Fair is worth a visit just to gawk.
OK, OK, you want photos.
One of my goals for this spring is to get some cute photos of cygnets – baby swans. With all the rain, I’m ever more behind tracking critters down. I hoped to find some swan families on this trip.
I found two swan families that stubbornly stayed well out in the marsh. I’d left the boat at home, they seemed to know exactly how far to stand off to keep me from photographing them.
Next I went looking for piping plovers. Their chicks start hatching along the New England Coast early in June. I got lucky and found two families each with four chicks that had hatched the day before.
Piping plovers are handsome shorebirds, they’re roughly as big as bluebirds, albeit stockier. They’re endangered – estimates range from about 7,600 to 8,400 piping plovers left. They nest in the grass just above the sandy part of the beach and forage in the grass and along the beach. The chicks weigh something like one-fifth of an ounce (less than three dimes) when they hatch and stand about 2 inches tall – about the size of cotton ball. The little buggers are fully prepared to forage on their own. They scoot along the beach, stopping for just a couple seconds before scooting off several feet or yards in any direction at something like 25 mph.
Both parents tend the chicks, such as they do. The parents watch the chicks as they scoot about and call them to take shelter under either parent for warmth or protection. If the chicks aren’t tucked under and the parent senses a threat, the parent will display like they’re injured. They flare their tail and walk clumsily while peeping to attract attention away from the chicks. This brood has four chicks and there are already at least two tucked under this parent.This is a very rare photo of a chick taking cover under a parent. My extensive research has proven that 99.99% of the time, they disappear under the parent with their butt towards the photographer.
Some sources online suggest you can tell mom from dad by the size of the black stripe on their head, with the male’s being longer and thicker. Other sources suggest the female is drabber. Others say they’re indistinguishable. So, with that solid reference, this may be mom. And this may be dad. Or I might have them backwards. When the coast is clear – literally – the plovers will go down to the water’s edge to forage in the debris the tide left. The chicks seem very tiny on the open beach. They’re easy to lose track of as they scurry about. Being flat on my belly trying to follow them with a long heavy lens is not the ideal way to keep track of them.
I’m amazed any of the chicks survive – they can travel better than 100′ from the parents and would seem to be an easy meal for anyone walking or flying by.
When they pop out from under a parent, they head out to explore the world. They’re smart enough to know they have to find their own food, but it takes a while before they learn what is and what isn’t edible. Dried reeds went in the not edible category.
Here our chick has scooped up a fly of some sort. This would seem to be in the edible category. But not so fast….
The fly manages a double-reverse back flip and gets out of the chick’s mouth…..
Our chick seems to be pondering this turn of events……
I think it was the fly’s lucky day. It was last seen riding the chick’s bill as the chick zipped away.
And a few more shots of the chicks as they explored, just because they’re adorable.
Exploring in the grass at the edge of the beach. Pausing and plotting a new course. Star Wars fans may see the design of the Empire’s walkers in the chick’s build. The long legs seem to take some learning before they’re mastered. Still looking a bit wobbly.
The plovers share their nesting area with least terns. They’re also handsome birds, longer and sleeker than the plovers. They’re inclined to go about their business directly up sun from photographers.
They aren’t great at building fancy nests. They lay their eggs in a shallow depression in the grass at the edge of the sand. This nest was built about halfway between the high tide mark and the grass, out in the open on the beach. Audubon has volunteers that patrol the beaches trying to keep people away from nests and chicks. There were stakes and a rope fence set up around this nest and along the grass for protection. And, they’re fiercely protective of their territory – which seems to include all of New England according to them. They’re quick to dive at whatever they think is a threat. They’re fast and agile fliers. There are always a few in flight over the colony. They chatter constantly about whatever needs to be said.
Sometimes the colony comes to a consensus and many of the adults will fly off to the water’s edge together. There’s no way to tell how many remain hiding in the grass, but there were several dozen in flight several times. Courtship consists of the males delivering fish to a lady. Meet Leroy, the world’s most socially awkward tern. He has a fish and has worked his courage up to present it to this pretty lady. She finds him attractive and turns away from him to present – encouraging him to mate.
Leroy didn’t seem to have thought his plan through to the point of figuring out what do to should she accept him. He spent better than ten minutes waving the fish around while circling her. She patiently kept turning to urge him to get on with it.
He finally got the hint and got down to business. He delivered the fish as they carried on with the matter at hand.
The guys don’t seem to have a lady in mind when they set out with their fish. They land near a lady and offer the fish. If the lady isn’t interested, she’ll rebuff him – often chasing him off. The guys seem undeterred and move along to the next lady. It turns out a lot of the chatter is actually ‘come here often? Can I buy you a fish?’When the guys arrive to present the fish, they’ll often make a nifty swoop and fluttering landing. This lady emphatically declared she was not interested, thank you very much. Buzz off creep!
Here, a couple of guys have spotted a pretty lady and are racing to get to her first. They also do a little dance together while courting. They flare out their wings, circle each other and mirror each other’s posture. And around we go….And a fish for you, my dear.
There was also a small flock of semipalmated sandpipers that were traveling along a large stretch of beach. Two more semipalmated sandpipers foraging in the debris.
Our tree swallows are holding onto the box the wrens drove the bluebirds from. Mom is sitting on five eggs. The wrens must be sitting on eggs too, but I don’t have a camera in their box. They enjoy perching just outside my window. Wrens never, ever, ever stop chattering. I’ll admit I’m not finding it as cute as it was a couple weeks ago. I’ve been collecting video of the swallow’s box and promise to get around to editing and posting some.
I got out to visit the Middleton loon family yesterday and will post an update on them shortly as well.
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Thanks! Most of the beaches where New England’s piping plovers are likely to nest get roped off too. The ropes aren’t pretty enough to be included in the pix 😉
I look forward to your posts. As soon as I see your name I immediately open the email and click through. I enjoy your remarkable photography as well as the story-telling captions. Thank you!
These photos are wonderful, as usual! Thank you so much for sharing.
Randall
Thanks!
Great photos! We see the same behaviors with Least Terns on Florida’s Gulf Coast, where their nesting area is roped off.
Sharon~
Thanks! Most of the beaches where New England’s piping plovers are likely to nest get roped off too. The ropes aren’t pretty enough to be included in the pix 😉
I look forward to your posts. As soon as I see your name I immediately open the email and click through. I enjoy your remarkable photography as well as the story-telling captions. Thank you!
Thank you!
I love your photos, they are beautiful, more turtles would be nice too. thanks for what you do, i enjoy them all.
Thanks. We can do more turtles 😉
Bless Leroy and Louella!