People have accused me of throwing too much shade at Lindsey Buckingham. It’s true that I’ve been known to say things like “he’s not my favorite bird,” “he’s kind of a d^&k,” and “why can’t our top-breeding male be one of our cool birds?” And just recently, I knowingly embarrassed poor Lindsey by sharing a photo of him bowing, in humiliating fashion, to newcomer Francisco.
But if there is any doubt, despite the stupid things I might say sometimes, and the embarrassing photos I might publish, that I actually love little Lindsey, it was put to rest this morning when I hiked out to the park at sunrise to give him some shelter from the sun on the hatch day of his very-show-offy Magic Double Brood nest.
That’s right. I wasn’t throwin’ shade. I was dropping it. Right on top of his nest!
Because today is Lindsey & Goldie’s Magic Double Brood hatch day, and we are also under a mid-summer heat advisory, with real temps forecast to reach 96 in the afternoon. There will be no relief in the burning sand on the open beach today. While piping plover are well adapted to the hot beach, remember we are already outside their nesting season. These are the kinds of days piping plover are trying to avoid by starting in April. The timing of this hatch is unfortunate.
So to give them an extra hand, we’ve dropped some shade. The simple structure you see is a large chick shelter. We will often sprinkle these around open habitats in extreme heat to give chicks a place to get some guaranteed shade, should they choose to use it.
But this is the first time one has been placed over a nest to shade the delicate hatch during extreme heat. Last year, one was placed over a hatching nest inside an exclosure during heavy rains successfully. So this seemed like a reasonable thing to try. The main risk would be abandonment, so I added a live camera so I could monitor their reaction, and remove the shelter quickly, if necessary. The other risk is that it might attract predators to the nest. Again, the camera helps with this, and we hope the nest will be hatched by sundown so we can remove the shelter before nightfall.
While Linds & Golds were clearly alarmed at first, they quickly returned to their eggs this morning, got comfortable in the shade, and immediately began hatching! We’ll be monitoring them throughout the heat of the day using the camera. One thing I’m interested to watch, for future reference, is if I got the orientation correct to keep the eggs in the shade all day while the planets spin, while also allowing the breeze to pass through so it doesn’t get too stuffy in there. If I botched it, you know I’ll be running out there to adjust it this afternoon!
Special thanks to LBI’s Matt Reitinger for building this extra shelter for the park. It was actually intended for Ruffles & Polkadot’s skimmer chicks, but NJFW had dropped off one for them already. We were very fortunate to have this extra shelter on hand and ready to go. Thanks Matt.
And we’ll check in later to see if Ruffles & Polkdot (skimmers nest much later so are more used to this kind of weather) have decided to try out the shelter for shade, or if they are just another pair of stubborn skimmies.
Here’s a quick view from the monitoring camera for fans of Lindsey, Goldie, and Magic Double Broods:
Best of luck to this very special nest on its most special day.
Hottest hatch of summer ’26!
Say something kind