Piping plover and its chick on Jones Beach Island, New York
© Vicki Jauron/Getty Image
Hooray for mom!. The parenting of a piping plover
To celebrate Mother’s Day this year, we’re on Jones Beach Island in New York, where piping plovers are helping their newly hatched chicks prepare to leave the nest—just hours after they hatch. While mom and dad were sitting on the unhatched eggs, if a predator, such as a fox, raccoon, or housecat were to get too close, they’d fake an injured wing and limp away from the nest to draw the animal away. That’s some extra-mile parenting! Who knows if that little chick will remember to call mom this time next year…
Related Images
Striated heron on a Victoria water lily, Pantanal, Brazil
Magellanic penguins, Volunteer Point, Falkland Islands
Andean cocks-of-the-rock, Ecuador
Yellow warbler in Canada
Rufous hummingbird, Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, Canada
Female black-naped monarch nesting
Black heron canopy hunting, Chobe National Park, Botswana
Southern yellow-billed hornbills in Kruger National Park, South Africa
Today on Bing
Tulip festival Ottawa Canada
May 12, 2023
