A lil fuzzball booty shot!
It was an exciting time out at Maumee Bay State Park this summer! For the first time in over 80 years(that's longer than I've been around!) a pair of Piping Plovers, Nellie & Nish, nested on the inland beach a few hundred feet of the beautiful shore of Lake Erie!
Not only did they nest, they mated and laid four eggs! AND they all hatched! Thanks to the folks from the Black Swamp Bird Observatory and a gang of volunteers around the clock, the lil peeps were well guarded and safe. Those folks were truly hardworking and dedicated. It sure isn't easy trying to keep track of four lil scampering fuzz balls!
I made it out to pay the peeps a visit a couple of weeks ago and had a fantastic time! I even got to say hello to one of my favorite humans, Kimberly Kaufman, director of the BSBO, and Mark Shieldcastle, bander extraordinaire!...oh...and I took just a couple of photos too...
Check out these sites for more info!:
https://www.maumeebaypipingplovers.org/
https://www.bsbo.org/
No swimmers, no dogs, just Piping Plovers in the fenced off area.
The little ones were all identified by colored bands with special colored dots to id each one.
They were even nice enough to give me a proper shot!
...and a stare down afterwards...
A poor Killdeer felling left out...
Nish, the poor dad, was trying his best to keep an eye on the kids while they wandered about.
Playing hide and seek in the water...
But I'm not really that close!...run away!
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Exercise those wings!
The "Great Escape!" Someone made it through the fence!
The walkie-talkies of the volunteers lit up when this happened!
An American Goldfinch followed!
Splish Splash!
Tiny fuzzball contortionist!
Flapping dry...
"Hey! Lookit me! I'm aerodynamic! Zooooom!"
"Stop laughing, I'm serious."
Kids...ha!
Got all of my plover lover gear!
It's hard being a fuzzball baby plover! Time to rest!
Until next time...thanks for visiting, see you soon!
This is very exciting! I hope it’s the beginning of a new trend. Love your Piping Plover treasures!
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