Wrightsville Beach Bird Stewards: Chicks Prove To Be Quite Photogenic

Even a brief visit to the south end of Wrightsville Beach will give you a chance to see our newly hatched chicks. This blog will feature some great pictures from two local photographers.

Least Terns on the Defense (LETE)

Incubation and hatching continues for the Least Terns and most of the day is spent protecting their chicks from predators.

The shelters appear to be helpful! As the days become hotter, you will see the parent birds continuing to protect their chicks from heat stress by shading them or standing close to the chicks as the chicks seek shelter/shade by a nearby plant or chick shelter. We are seeing more LETE chicks than last week and over 100 LETE are re-nesting.

photo by Dorothy Sutherland

photo by Debbie Kovach

Common Tern Chicks (COTE)

Common Tern chicks can be seen throughout the posting and the COTE parents have been actively keeping beachgoers (and bird stewards!) a safe distance away. We have 15 Common Tern nests throughout the posting.

photo by Dorothy Sutherland

photo by Debbie Kovach

Black Skimmer Chicks

We have 166 Black Skimmer nests and many are hatching. Chicks can be seen throughout the posting. If you see a Black Skimmer flying in with a fish, follow it with your binoculars right to its nest to feed chicks. Adorable! Courtship, mating, nesting and incubation continues.

photo by Debbie Kovach

photo by Dorothy Sutherland

American Oystercatcher Family (AMOY)

We have two Oystercatcher chicks on the beach by the AMOY pair that nested on the inlet side of the colony. The Oystercatcher family made its appearance early Monday morning (5/24). So adorable…I just want to watch them all day!

We had serious injuries to both parent AMOY last week, but we are encouraged that they are still working through their pain to feed and protect their chicks. The chicks are growing nicely!

Stop and enjoy this unique opportunity to see Oystercatcher chicks from a safe distance.