Wilson's Plover with chick and egg

[Brian Sugden]

Taken on Fort Myers Beach, Florida, which is a public beach and one of the best places for photographing birds. From April to August areas are cordoned off for nesting plovers and least terns. On a previous visit I witnessed the chick hatching, which was a real thrill. In the first shot the chick is a about 3 days old. Once they become mobile the parents have a big problem protecting them from other birds and people walking on the beach, as the chicks run all over the place. The shot was taken from outside the cordoned off area with a 1DX, 500mm f4 L IS lens and 1.4 converter. For those thinking that I may have caused the birds any stress I can assure you this was not the case. Their biggest problem was with least terns attacking them as you can see in the 2nd image, which is not one of my sharpest, but tells a story.

Wilson's Plover.jpg
Wilson's plover with chick and egg

Wilson's Plover under attack.jpg
Wilson's plover under attack from least tern

[mikep]

Re: Wilson's Plover with chick and egg

Great shots Brian, that 2nd one is a belter!

Shame the whole Tern isn't in shot, but I guess you were shooting the Plover when the Tern turned up?

Mike

[antoeknee]

Re: Wilson's Plover with chick and egg

Excellent images.

[ST-EOS]

Re: Wilson's Plover with chick and egg

Very good images well done

[digiman]

Re: Wilson's Plover with chick and egg

Great shots Brian. No favourites here, they both have equal merit in my eyes.

For those thinking that I may have caused the birds any stress I can assure you this was not the case. Their biggest problem was with least terns attacking them as you can see in the 2nd image, which is not one of my sharpest, but tells a story.

With a 500mm lens and a 1.4 converter, I wasn't in the slightest bit concerned about you causing the birds destress

Thanks for sharing,
Garry

[rajjayaraj]

Re: Wilson's Plover with chick and egg

Great shot and certainly it tells the story, it just proves you don't need everything in the picture all the time. Raj

[tesarver]

Re: Wilson's Plover with chick and egg

Nice images Brian.

Tom