Smile pretty for the camera - 25 Day Old Piping Plover Chick - Hampton Beach State Park - Hampton, NH 07-28-15

I am a volunteer with New Hampshire Fish & Game. I am a Plover Monitor, which means I chase these adorable little chicks all over the beach and make sure they are safe... from human intervention. They are tiny, especially when first hatched and impossible to see. 2 hours after they hatch from the egg, they are on the beach feeding themselves. The adult birds fend off threats from the Gulls, and we Plover Monitors fend of human activity. They have free run of the beach, and I am not to interfere or heard them in any direction.
The adults came to know us and on occasion would run up to us... peep peep peep in a knowing way, looking up at us, then fly away. We are certain this was them saying... "Okay, I need to run off for a bit... you got the kids". They definitely trusted us. When not chasing Gulls, they would charge any human that looked like they were going towards the chicks... but not us. They knew.
A very rewarding position, working with this Federally "Protected" species.
Unfortunately we could not be there 24-7, and lost three of our 4 chicks. Other nests did better... it was a very sad morning when we arrived and there was one less than last reported the afternoon before.

Nature can be cruel.

They are the sweetest little birds I have ever seen, and I was presented with amazing photo and video ops as I protected them from the crowds.

I already can't wait for next year.
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