Milford Point Piping Plover chicks biological observation

The below post, including observations and photos, is from AAfCW technician Sean Graesser:  

The last PIPL nest at CACC hatched the night of July 9 at 6:30 PM. Three of the four chicks had hatched by 8:30 PM. There was one egg still un-hatched. At 11:45 AM it still had not hatched yet. It was thought the egg was going to be unviable. At 6:00 PM the final egg had hatched and the chick was still wet with embryonic fluid.

24 hours for all the eggs to hatch is very unusual. Although the eggs get laid over a 6-8 days period they usually hatch within hours of each other. This is an interesting observation. These kind of small biological observations are always noteworthy.

Due to the Alliance this year we have managed to see a few of these things this season. With all the eyes on the birds this year we have come across some great data.


Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds, Audubon Connecticut and the Connecticut Audubon Society partnering to improve conditions for coastal waterbirds in Connecticut.