Giving their parents fits every step of the way, the three piping plover chicks that hatched in the parking lot of Roger Wheeler State Beach yesterday took an overnight, stop-and-start route that finally saw them climb a sand-covered, plywood ramp and skitter onto the beach at about 11 AM today.
After covering a distance that for a person would probably be the equivalent of running a marathon or four, it doesn't get any easier for the chicks now. Whatever the location of their new nest on the beach, the downy young birds won't be flying for about a month. They will follow their parents' lead in foraging for marine worms, crustaceans, and insects – and hopefully surviving human disturbance, unleashed dogs and stray cats, and natural predators such as crows, racoons, skunks, and foxes.
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