Copulating Piping Plover

Copulating Piping Plover at Milford Point, 4/10/14.  This video, a composite of two videos I first put up on Youtube, shows two of three pairs of PIPL mating on this day at Milford Point.  A fourth pair was courting and probably mating too.  The first video ends at 1 minute 45 seconds; the second, which captures the male twirling the female at the end of mating, runs from 1:49 for about 30 seconds.  Captured are behaviors such as goose-stepping, neck elongations, and tattooing.  Also, notice aggression when male dismounts--in later clip the male grabs the female's neck and twirls her (could be twirling derives from her attempt to escape the clutch of his bill).