Dad and Chick

The tide was way out when I arrived at my post for the day on the beach yesterday morning.  A  variety of shore birds were  busy feeding, taking advantage of the newly exposed puddles. There were large numbers of Western Sandpipers scurrying about, a half dozen Semipalmated Plovers, and and a few Sanderlings, but most important to me were some Western Snowy Plovers that had made a run out to join in the feeding. A dad is shown above on the left, standing guard while his chick feeds. He was quiet aggressive in defending the area that the chick was feeding in.  This was the first Western Snowy Plover chick I have seen, and even then it was at a great distance, too far to be seen with the naked eye.  I had to first locate the plovers with my binoculars, then re-find them with my camera and zoom in on them with my 50 power zoom to focus on a shot. In Snowys, the mother leaves the nest once the chicks are hatched, and dad stays around to act as guardian for some weeks until the chicks are able to fly.