The first photo shows a late Dunlin (it seems to have something wrong with its lower mandible--it remained around for a week after this photo was taken) with a Semipalmated Sandpiper at the Milford Point spit on 17 June 2010. The next photo pictures 3 Horseshoe Crabs (2 males, 1 female) mating on the spit, thereby providing the shorebirds, esp. the Semipalmated Sandpipers, crucial food on their northward migration. Two days earlier we counted at least 170 Horseshoes Crabs on and around the spit. The final photo shows the Cedar Street Piping Plover family on 17 June 2010.
The photo above, from 17 June 2010 at the very beginning of the Milford Point (Francis Street) spit, shows an adult Piping Plover brooding 3 chicks (they're underneath her) with the skillful use of her wings. The 4th chick sits nearby. (You might want to enlarge the photo to see the birds--their amazing camouflage is on display.) This family is probably from a nest that was exclosed but never protected by stringing because of the objections of the property owners, Two days earlier the family had been foraging high up on the beach further east on Cedar Beach.
No comments:
Post a Comment