Shell Tossing

Here is a short video of a Piping Plover engaged in that part of the "nest-scraping display" when "a courting male walks about on his territory, deliberately tossing aside shell fragments or pebbles" (Birds of North America). He's also uttering the "nest-scraping call." This pair just lost its nest and 4 eggs to the storm surge around 3:30 AM (19 May 2010) on the Milford Point (Francis Street) spit.