On the Massachusetts North Shore the piping plovers (Charadrius melodus). These little tiny ring necked plovers are seriously endangered and, as a result, most of the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge beaches are closed so that they can breed undisturbed for about half the summer. It is worth it! TC and I have noticed a few of these delights at Cape Hedge Beach and last Saturday we were treated to encountering three day-old hatchlings darting about, tripping over rocks, and generally presenting a major challenge to parent birds to keep them all together – so delicate and vulnerable. Most wonderful of all is the way that they hide under their parents; all you see is a ball of fluffy feathers and a lot of legs. It is very reminiscent of the character Mother Ginger from the ballet Nutcracker, who hides a mass of children beneath her skirt.

I was very respectful of these little babies and in the end did not get a good picture of them. I did however succeed in getting the image of an adult piping plover (Figure 1), which I am quite pleased with.compensation.

Canon T2i withEF 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM lens at 340 mm ISO 1600 Aperture Priority AE Mode 1/4000 th sec at f/7.1 with no exposure compensation.