It can be very difficult for our beach nesting birds to find the right beach umbrella to buy for the family. All too often their habitats have been stripped of vegetation for one reason or another, from too much human traffic in sensitive areas to impacts from severe weather or climate change. Beaches are also frequently cleaned by hand and/or machine for our recreation, leaving little besides sand, removing the wrack line and anything else that washes ashore.
I was surveying one of our focal sites with a colleague this summer when we could not find two American Oystercatcher hatchlings. Their parents were around, though we were not very close to them. No birds were interacting with us, which is as it should be. After a few minutes we noticed one hatchling, finally...
That type of cover is very important when it comes to finding a safe spot to hide from predators (including humans, dogs, and cats), and to stay cool on particularly sunny and hot summer days. While we were happy to see this bird, where was the other little one? Look closer!
In real life, we kept walking down the shoreline, and a couple minutes later we spotted the second hatchling foraging with its sibling and parents. Given the bright conditions in the field, I did not even notice it hunkered down completely in the shade against the driftwood until editing photos that evening. Cover and camouflage made it essentially invisible even with trained staff searching for it, providing a superb demonstration of why habitat quality is so important for our endangered waterbirds.
Scott Kruitbosch
AAfCW Volunteer Coordinator
RTPI Manager of Connecticut Programs
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