Oystercatch with 1 Day Old Chicks in Cape May

Just returned from a trip to Cape May NJ this past weekend. I was very fortunate to come across a pair of oystercatchers and their three 1 day old chicks just before sunset on my first day. The mother was relaxed and I was able to observe them without bothering her. She would sit down and the chicks would all snuggle under her, hidden and warm. Then every few minutes the father would come running up with a tidbit and drop it near the mom. She would stand and the first chick to the meat got the prize while the others all peeped in protest. He would then fly off to the waters edge to repeat the process, but every return trip he would walk the meal back. I revisited then the next morning and they had moved farther away into the protected dunes.

Without further ado, the photographs:


1.) Mom with three chicks under her.

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Oh my! You ARE lucky. This is a wonderful series. I especially like #4.

Excellent photos; well done.
Al

Absolutely amazing! well done!

Great set & lovely POV.

icassell wrote in post #14464353
Oh my! You ARE lucky. This is a wonderful series. I especially like #4.

CDMOOSE wrote in post #14464366
Excellent photos; well done.
Al

CameraClicker wrote in post #14464390
Absolutely amazing! well done!

Joe52 wrote in post #14464438
Great set & lovely POV.

Thank you all! These are def some of my best photos to date. Im very proud. For most of the images I had to lay flat on the ground to get the POV. Im still finding sand in the pockets of my jacket!

Here are two more photos to show the environment, it was really beautiful there.


9.) Bad lighting but I like this one because you can see all of the chicks.

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Very nice series, those bill and eye colors on the adult are so intense and your composition and crops highlight them quite well.

Excellent series, I enjoyed looking at those.

These are really great.

Makes me smile this series does. Well done!

The second batch are good as well!
*Wants to look for an oystercatcher*

very nice images

Gorgeous series!
Very hard to pick my favorite.

Excellent work Kate, a series to be proud of for sure. Approaching these birds can be very challenging here. I look forward to them, especially at nesting time.

Nighthound wrote in post #14468566
Excellent work Kate, a series to be proud of for sure. Approaching these birds can be very challenging here. I look forward to them, especially at nesting time.

Thank you Steve! That means a lot coming from you, whom as a photographer I look up to. I very much admire your work and always enjoy your threads! I struggle capturing certain wildlife, especially birds because my max lens range that I own is 280mm (70-200 + 1.4xtc). So coming across a situation, in this case nesting birds, is not only rare but for me to be able to safely get up close and have photos that with a bit of cropping are useable really lifted my spirits.