Piping Plover Pair

It's breeding time, and these piping plovers are courting. The male is in front and raises his tail, with his mate in a lower position behind him.

Aside from behavior, the sexes are distinguishable mainly by the coloration of their beaks (the male's is equally and rather sharply divided between orange and black, while the female's is mostly black with a blurred transition to orange).

I was at Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary in Westport (on the Massachusetts coast south of New Bedford). I've been photographing there since 2005, and this was my first visit in 2009 (see also the next three days).

Backblipped 2011-10-29