Piping Plover: The Bird Stories 2011.

Cape Henlopen State Park Piping Plover ( aka PIPL) Bird Police Duty-gig 2011 ended this week with the youngest chick fledging; flying the required 50 yards. The Piping Plovers having done their job are ready to party Southward, many to call the Bahamas their Winter Resort.

Time for me to Party TOO! Time to celebrate the PIPL success and the 125 hours of "Bird Stories".

Finding the PIPL Story Line was what kept me glued to my " At The Ropes ( actually it is twine) Spot". In my third year of duty: I had a clue! Amazing to me, this season I recognized individual PIPL-s.

This was the year our Bahama-Banded PIPL Male, having successfully nested on The Point just for fun would fly in ~ one mile to The Ropes just to duke it out with PIPL glamour couple, Beckham and Posh! One witnessed fight lasted a little over one hour.

Beckham and Posh nested early and failed and then nested late and succeeded; chick mentioned above. The late nesting cost them their nearest foraging cove which was claimed in the interim by the Parents of Sturdy Chick.

Sturdy Chick as a baby was hilarious-fun; loving to rest in upturned Horseshoe Crab Shells and loving water. Once this baby was swamped by wave action, came out fine and a bit stunned. The Parent was FLIPPED-OUT and instructed the chick to not repeat the incident. One week later Sturdy Chick was Wise To The World. Another week later the Sturdy Chick showed out-right teen-age aggression towards The Parents!

Bird Police duty is keeping the public OUT of the Federally protected area. This year I cultivated my own little fleet of "GOOD Kayakers" to yell at "BAD Kayakers" who disdain to enter the closed areas. Good Work, Kayak Team!

PIPL: Hope one day I see you in The Bahamas!