While it was such a treat to see that the Piping Plovers were back for the summer, it was even more of a treat to see them courting on the sand. “The male approaches the female, stands upright with neck stretched, and rapidly stamps his feet with an odd “high-stepping gait.” (Click on blog link for more photos.)
It was so cool to watch the two of them. And then the female settled down in the sand where I presume their nest would be. Maybe we’ll go back today and see what’s going on. We’d never seen that ritual before. Have you?
In the last photograph, you can hardly see where she is nesting in the sand.
We saw our first Piping Plovers of the season yesterday at Coast Guard Beach. What a treat! I was hoping they might be back! It was a glorious day for a walk on the beach… sunny and in the 50s, just perfect!
We noticed that all of the stakes and string was up all the way down the beach to deter people from disturbing the Piping Plovers nests and behaviors. It wasn’t until we heard their distinct sound of the “courtship whistle” that we saw them up high on the beach in the sand.
Stop by tomorrow to see more photos and a cool story!
I’m always so surprised to see the seals at Nauset Marsh and away from the ocean. They never used to swim in toward the marsh but now they make their way quite far into Nauset Marsh and even up toward Town Cove. (Click blog link for other photo.)
We saw this guy on the sandbar by Nauset Spit. You can see the channel marker nearby showing the boats the channel deep enough to get out on the open water. He looks pretty content, don’t you think?
Sometimes when we’re walking along the beach, we see the most interesting little sand arts forms caused by wind, rain or the ocean water. This area looked like someone pick us little piles of sand and made little pyramids. Each one was only a couple of inches high. It was so pretty. (Click on blog link for other photo.)
