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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Environment
Drew Rooke

I saw pedestrians swear at plovers when they swooped. But I admired the birds

A baby plover from a family of plovers in Maroubra.
A baby plover from a family of plovers in Maroubra in Sydney. Photograph: Martin Thomas

It was early September when the two spur-winged plover chicks hatched.

They hit the ground running, literally. Shortly after emerging from the speckled brown eggs their mother had laid in a shallow divot, they were scurrying around on their disproportionately long, stilt-like legs. They looked like fluffy brown and white cotton balls that could blow away in the wind.

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