PIPL chicks Mdf Pt, egg E Bway

The Cedar Beach exclosure closest to the Francis Street spit had 4 hatchlings on 24 May 12.  Here's a brief video of one of the chicks responding to a parental call and taking shelter under the adult.

Here's an abandoned egg from the nest of 4 eggs on East Broadway.  The other 3 eggs hatched out.

Red-necked Phalarope Mfd Pt 5/24/12

While monitoring  Piping Plover on 24 May 12 at the Francis Street spit at Milford Point, I came across a female Red-necked Phalarope in breeding plumage (with Phalaropes, the females are the colorful, dominant sex).  It was foraging in the seaweed filled pools at the water's edge along with hundreds of Semipalmated Sandpipers (with a few White-rumped SPs).  The Birds of North America species account, written by UConn's Margaret Rubega, begins as follows:
The Red-necked Phalarope, a member of the shorebird family, is functionally among the world’s smallest seabirds. Smallest and daintiest of the 3 phalarope species, it spends up to 9 months of the year at sea, riding on a raft of dense belly plumage and feeding on tiny planktonic invertebrates at oceanographic fronts, convergences, and other discontinuities.
Notice how small it is by comparing it to the Semipalmated Sandpipers it is with in some of the photos.
Here's a brief video, followed by the first photo taken and 3 subsequent views.