Snowy Plover, Charadrius nivosus: Estero Lagoon; Fort Myers Beach, Florida
A couple of
weeks ago I was in Florida. Yes, I was
in Florida the first week of July, and yes it was hot, hot, hot, but not as hot
as Alabama. I went because I heard that there were a few Black Skimmers with
young chicks at Indian Beach. So, I was
off to try and photograph them.
I found lots of skimmers with fledgling three
or four weeks old, but I also found four pairs with chicks less than a week
old. I also discovered that Estero
Lagoon on Fort Myers beach still had a colony of skimmers as well. After a couple of mornings at the Indian
Beach colony I went on down to Estero Lagoon.
There at Estero, I found a large colony of skimmers. All the skimmer chicks I found were fledging,
or about to fledge and I had plenty of opportunities to shoot.
The biggest surprise however was not the
simmers, but three Snowy Plovers, still on eggs. These plovers must have been birds whose
earlier nest had failed, but there is no way to really know that. They may have simply been late nesters. Whatever the reason I was very shocked to see
them on eggs. There was also another
pair of plovers that had chicks that looked about a day or two old.
I shot this Snowy Plover from ground level
laying on the sand with a bed sheet over my body as camouflage. The bird was quite at ease as I shot the
first few images and even closed its eyes and seemed to be sleeping at
times. I must admit, that when it closed
its eyes mine became very heavy as well, and I had to force myself to look for
any behavior to photograph.
As I lay on the sand with the morning sun
beating down on me I thought, “will this plover ever move.” Finally, and much to my relief, a least tern
chick resting about seven feet away began running right toward the Snowy Plover.
When the tern chick was a foot away form
the plover’s nest, the plover, like lighting bolted toward the chick hitting it
with such force as to cause it to tumble head over heels for about three
revolutions. I grabbed this shot as the
plover returned to its nest and settled over its egg. Without that Least Tern chick, the only
photos I would have of Snowy Plover would be birds sleeping on the sand.
By the way, the little tern chick was just
fine. Once on its feet it made a Bee-Line
to mama.
Nikon D800,
Nikkor 500mm f4, 1/2500 second @ f9
Great story about the tern chick encountering the plover, Bobby. If your skimmer observations were made at Carlos Point, I'll update you with the fact that most of them have moved on. There is a lingering American Flamingo down here which might entice you to return sooner than later.
ReplyDeleteThank you Bob, and thanks for the update. Wish I could have gone back for the Flamingo!
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