falseredstart:

Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius) chick

The first brood of our spotties has emerged! Dad was nowhere to be seen; parent sandpipers will stick nearby to brood the young on occasion (about 37% of the time for chicks 1-3 days old, according to BNA). These tiny peepers are already foraging independently, which is pretty amazing; we spotted this one hiding in the bushes, another one striking out for the undergrowth, and a third foraging along the coast!

PSA: if you find baby shorebirds being escorted by an anxious parent, do not approach! Different species have different degrees of parental care, and splitting off one chick from the rest of its brood and its parent can spell certain death. We went ahead and scooped this chick up since it was hunkered down without a parent in sight, taking care to put it back right where we found it.

@lookatthisbabybird