Thursday afternoon's visit to Silver Sands State Park featured a special sight indeed. When I checked on the Piping Plover pair and their nest just east of the park, I was excited to see that their eggs have successfully hatched! So along with the two adults, there were four tiny baby plovers running around on the beach! Here's Dad, looking handsome as usual, with one of the new arrivals in the foreground:
I loooooove these little guys! It was such a treat to watch them scuttle around across the sand:
Hello baby plover, with your little cotton-ball body and tooth-pick legs:
Adorable as these guys are from the front, I think they might be even cuter from behind! Look at that little tail!
Plover chicks are precocial -- isn't that just the coolest word? -- which means that (like baby chickens, ducks, geese, etc., but unlike, say, robins) they're up walking and foraging for themselves almost as soon as they hatch. (I also just love how much "precocial" sounds like "precocious," which is absolutely a fitting description for these little guys.) These four babies were certainly handling themselves well, motoring around from spot to spot:
And snatching up food from the sand, just like Mom and Dad:
But even though these chicks were running around and feeding themselves, they still ran back to Mom every few minutes for some cuddle time:
Oof, four babies is a lot to fit under you!
There we go, all tucked in (more or less):
I read recently that only about 50 Piping Plover pairs are currently nesting in all of Connecticut (roughly the same number as in recent years). I'm so happy this plover family has made it to the hatching stage, and I just hope all four of these chicks grow up safely. Stay close to your parents, guys, and hopefully you'll be fine!
Here are a few other sights from my visit to the beach. The Killdeer pair is still tending eggs, but these babies should also be along soon:
A Fish Crow sat long enough for a quick portrait:
And some Glossy Ibises looked spectacularly rusty in the very last light from the setting sun:
Something strange happened this past Saturday (October 12). It was late afternoon, and I was starting to think about cooking food, when I heard a big ruckus outside. I looked out the window and there were crows all over. As far as I could tell, there were about 100 birds out there, crowded into several nearby trees, and chowing down on our Red Cedar cones. (Everybody likes these things!) I have to say, it was a little disconcerting to look outside and see rows of crows looming over me:
Even weirder than the number of crows, though, was the species. These were Fish Crows -- I could only tell this because of their constant nasal cawing -- which I'm used to encountering whenever I'm at the shore, but which I almost never see in our yard. Around here, black corvids are pretty much always American Crows. So we got invaded by a passing mob (or "murder," I guess) of Fish Crows! Crazy and cool!
These birds were already impressive when they were just sitting around and eating, but their numbers were especially intimidating when they took to the air:
And the sound of all these birds was pretty intense, too. I took a quick video to try to capture the sound (most of the birds had flown out of easy view by the time I got ready to record), and it more or less worked:
Exciting stuff!
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An update!
On Tuesday (October 16), the crows came back! This time, the lighting was better, so here are two more videos of Fish Crows taking over our yard:
There are Clapper Rails in the marshes at Silver Sands State Park. I know they're there because I've heard them calling almost every time I've visited this summer, and I even caught a couple distant glimpses earlier this year of these secretive birds.
Or, I should say, normally secretive. Twicelast summer I happened to see Clapper Rails (including two babies) up close and outside of the tall grass where they usually hide. This past Wednesday morning was apparently another weirdly bold days for the rails, because I saw seven (!) of these birds out in the open in different parts of the marsh. The first rail I saw, though, definitely gets the prize for boldness. It stood on this spot right next to the boardwalk -- with plenty of people (and dogs) walking by -- for several minutes, calm as could be. You might think that's a discarded hat in this picture, but no, clearly it's a Clapper Rail perch:
After standing for a bit, the rail settled down for a rest. How nice of some person to leave this perfectly rail-sized wicker seat here in the marsh!
I couldn't tear myself away from this awesome -- and let's face it, hilarious -- bird. A few passing people stopped to admire it, too, and to wonder what in the world kind of bird it was. (A duck? A plover?) So I got to share some information, and everyone seemed to agree that this bird was both cool and cute. Yay, Clapper Rail, you gathered admirers!
After the rest period, it was time for a thorough grooming session:
With some major feather fluffing:
And a big stretch or two (boy, that hat is good for all sorts of activities):
Finally, the rail hopped down into the mud:
It spent some time foraging in the shallow water:
And then it made its way back into the thick marsh grass (this view is much closer to how I usually glimpse rails, when I see them at all):
So that was awesome, and way more rail-time than I ever expected. But then later in my walk, on the other side of the marsh, I noticed some fuzzy black creatures wandering across the mud...:
Oh my goodness, baby Clapper Rails! And wait, are there three babies here? No! Four! (Do you see them all in this next picture?)
An adult wandered out after the babies (I'm not sure whether this is Mom or Dad, since males and females look the same, and the internet tells me that both parents take care of the growing chicks):
The parent was trying to forage for food, but that's kind of hard to do when one of your babies just wants to cuddle:
These baby rails were in such an exploring mood! Where are you going, little guy?
I love that white-paint-dipped beak, those huge pale ears, and those tiny wings. You are one cool little bird!
So yes, there are definitely rails at Silver Sands State Park, and every once in a while you actually get to see them! :)
The rails were the highlight of the trip, but there were several other cool creatures around, too. This small Green Heron was stealthily stalking food in a pond:
A juvenile Fish Crow was trailing after its parent and begging for food (it's the bird on the right in this picture, with pink at the corners of its beak):
The young crow stayed mostly away from my camera, but an adult Fish Crow let me get some close views:
I usually see Fish Crows at the beach and at our local supermarket's parking lot; around our apartment, we get mostly American Crows. The two species look basically identical, so I have to wait until they make some sounds before I can identify them. These guys kept talking to each other, so Fish Crow it is! What a handsome bird:
Hey, there are flowers at the beach, too. These Partridge Peas (Chamaecrista fasciculata) were lighting up the beach's sandy borders:
Toward the end of my walk, I came across a trio of Willow Flycatchers, which (like the Fish Crow) look pretty much exactly like a few other species, and so they usually need to call before I can identify them. These guys were silent, but since I've seen and heard Willow Flycatchers in this spot every time I've visited the beach this summer (and they were probably breeding here), I feel pretty confident giving this creature a name. Willow or not, though, you have to admit this is one adorable little bird:
So many active animals, and such wonderfully cool weather! Yes, it was definitely a great morning at the beach. :)
