Plovers

I think these nests are so beautiful - and amazing. I still can't wrap my mind around these little birds migrating from Central America to come nest for the summer. They find a territory with suitable habitat and the male creates a scrape (nest). Some scrapes are purely a scraping in the sand while others are intricately lined with tiny shell bits collected by the male and artistically placed in the scrape. Sometimes the nests are perfectly centered between beautiful big clam shells or next to an interesting piece of driftwood. 

Plovers normally lay four elliptical eggs. The bird lays one egg at a time, about every 36-48 hours or so and begins incubating after a few eggs are laid. The pointed end points towards the center of the nest and the round end lays more exposed on the outside. Sometimes an egg can be depredated (eaten/taken by a predator) or washed out while the other eggs survive. As the season goes on and conditions become tougher a second or third clutch (set of eggs) may consist of fewer eggs. The parents are tired - egg laying and protecting is a taxing business - and the heat of the sun becomes more extreme. 

This chick is just freshly hatched - so fresh it's still wet from the amniotic fluids! It's hard to believe that chick was all scrunched up inside an egg of that size. 

This chick is a few hours old. It has fluffed up, dried off, and moved a few feet from the nest. It's still tired from breaking out of that shell and not too steady on its little legs.

This chick is a few days old. Their parents stay close to them when they're this little. When startled or when their parents call they lay down and remain still. 

This chick is over 20 days old and almost flying on its own! Its body is sleek and it is almost the full size of its parents. It has dark tail feathers emerging, but hasn't grown a headband or collar like its parents exhibit. You can't tell sex on the chicks since they don't grow the sex-determining color patterns until they're older.  As you can see they blend in very well with their habitat.

The parent is on the left with a collar and headband. They also have more orange on their beak and legs. The old chick is more dull looking.

How many birds do you see in this picture? They're so difficult to see in this shelly substrate!

Parents and big chicks flocking up with some other adults - they're difficult to distinguish at this stage.

These females are especially light-colored. Sometimes the plovers are unique looking enough that you can distinguish them from eachother.