"The Plover Family."
I was delighted to come across a family of Plovers at the side of road, especially as the chicks were newly hatched and the mother was very protective over her babies and the large egg that she was sitting on. She had made her nest next to a pile of uncollected newspapers on the strip of grass outside a residential home and as I gingerly approached to take some photos, a neighbour appeared to make sure I was not going to disturb this wonderful scene of nature taking place right before our eyes.
Two little chicks were darting all over the place and Mother Plover had her work cut out for her dividing her time between her fluffy and extremely cute offspring and the egg that would produce yet another one of these energetic little birds. We see a lot of Plovers in Queensland, Australia but we generally hear them before we see them as they are very raucous. It was the screeching sound of the parents of these chicks that drew me to them in the first place as they were intent on keeping intruders well away. Mother Plovers eyes are alert as she sits on her last unhatched egg and persuades one of her chicks to stay close.
The little chick obeyed and scurried under the protection of her mothers feathers when they thought I'd come a little too close for comfort. There are roughly 66 species in the subfamily with most of them being referred to as Plover or Dotterell. These birds are closely related to the Lapwing species and are also known as Masked Lapwings.
Casual bystanders or people walking near their nests need to be careful as adults will dive and swoop on intruders hoping that these tactic will lure them away from their nests. This aggression only occurs for short periods of time especially as the chicks learn to fend for themselves . Can you see the extra pair of legs and the egg under Mother Plover?
Plovers are fairly large birds and are characterized by their reasonably short bills, long reddish legs and large yellow facial wattles. They can be located all around Australia but love the shores, swamps and lake areas and enjoy grassy patches under their feet. Plovers usually lay their eggs after local rains and will lay up to four eggs on the ground in shallow hollows or depressions. They prefer to nest in open areas because their predators are easily visible.
Plover eggs hatch in 28 days. Although plovers have spurs on their wings they are not poisonous. As you can see from these photos, Plover chicks have a full covering of down and are capable of leaving the nest to feed themselves within a few short hours of hatching.
They hunt by sight rather than by feel which is the method that longer-billed waders use and their diet consists mainly of insects, worms and other invertebrates depending on where they live. Plovers have a distinct run-and-pause technique when hunting their prey unlike the usual probing technique of other waders.
Papa Plover had finished his hunting for the time being and walked over me. I stood still respecting his right to defend his family with my camera in hand but my eye on his wary ones. He determined that I was no threat and allowed me to take another couple of shots before leaving the Plover family to their outdoor domesticity.
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