Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Piping Plovers Defend Their Nest Site...


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10 comments:

A New England Life said...

Poor birds. I sure hope they were successful in raising their chicks. Looks like a little kung fu action to me! lol!

Larry Jordan said...

Wow, very interesting video Andrew. Those little Piping Plovers are not only quick but pretty tough as well.

BIRDINGDUDE said...

@ A New England Life - thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I have returned to the nest site and volunteered time in monitoring the nest. It appears that the chicks are doing quite well. I like your analogy and may have to borrow it from you.Kung fu indeed.

BIRDINGDUDE said...

@Larry - Hi Larry, thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment. I have seen the Piping Plover broken wing display before, but never the aggression that this pair showed. I am glad that I was able to capture some of it.

Pat said...

Hi Andrew

It always amazes me that these feisty little birds give no thought to the size of the intruder. He's gotta go, no matter how big he is!

Great to catch this on video.

BIRDINGDUDE said...

Hi Pat - thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I think I was lucky in capturing this sequence. Yup, those Piping Plovers were not having anyone get their nest regardless of size.

Vickie said...

Nice video. Hope that managed to discourage their intruder.

MaineBirder said...

Excellent video!

I wish they were successful in kung-fuing skunk and raccoons who eat the Plover eggs.

BIRDINGDUDE said...

@Vickie - Thanks Vickie for stopping by and leaving a comment. Yes, they were successful in driving off the Oystercatcher. What concerned me most was the number of times they left the remaining egg unattended. That and the energy the plovers burned up doing their defensive measure.

BIRDINGDUDE said...

@MaineBirder - John, thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. Sure looked like some high wire Kung-fu action. Those Piping Plovers have a lot of spunk. I am afraid this species will continue to have a tough time surviving. I was surprised and sad at how many people stopped to ask about the monitoring and seemed more concerned about how much beach was lost to their use during the Plover and Tern nesting season.