Mystery Solved: Tatiana Is As Bold As She Is Beautiful.

All season we’ve been following along with the tiny dramas at nest 2020 BALI PIPL 02A in Plover Park; most especially those of new mom Tatiana.

When Tatiana absolutely refused to get off her nest even as I stood right over her, we wondered if she just might be the boldest piping plover on the planet. Then later when we caught her trying to brood a stink egg, we wondered if maybe she was just dumb.

Well, after the unbelievable events at the banding of her four new babies in Plover Park we finally have our answer.

Tatiana truly is as bold as she is beautiful. She is no dummy. She just really, really loves her babies.

Tatiana had no problem aggressively invading my personal space to protect her babies.

In this astonishing video you will see one of the boldest piping plover moms ever captured on film. While piping plovers are generally extremely brave birds with fierce dedication to their families, this is some next level stuff for sure.

Normally during a banding, the adults will stay close by but cautiously out of harm’s way; calling repeatedly to the chicks and listening for their tiny replies. They will normally circle at a distance doing the call and response, maybe making a few close passes to try to distract the scientists and lead them away from the young.

Kashi Davis manages to get a little work done measuring Windom Earle before all hell breaks loose and she becomes absolutely mesmerized by Tatiana’s bold beauty.

Stop the presses. That’s love right there. Tatiana is totally focused on her babies in that blue bag despite the risks to her, and Kashi is totally focused on Tatiana.

Tatiana is absolutely amazing.

She fearlessly marched right into our camp and stood right by the side of her babies despite the incredible risk to her. She even tried to walk right into the baby bag: the small pet carrier where the babies are kept safe and cool during the banding. Failing that, she stayed right there talking to them, even puffing out her brood feathers at one point. Maybe she was just so eager to care for her sweet babies, or maybe she wanted to show them that mama was right there, ready to care for them and keep them safe and warm.

Whatever she was thinking it was an astonishing thing to witness. All of this is unheard of.

Thankfully, both Kashi & I were so smitten by her that we stopped everything we were doing and captured a few clips of this amazing mom to share with you.

Making Plover Park history. A once in a lifetime release.

Releasing the chicks back into the wild after their quick bandings and checkups is always the best part. Things got turned up a notch recently at the banding of nest 2020 BALI PIPL 01A thanks to an epic sunset banding.

But we managed to top even that here. While releases are always fun, they also require a lot of planning and attention. It is absolutely critical that all the chicks are released together as close to the parents as possible. The parents are usually a little freaked out and skittish so we have to find just the right spot where they will be able to see each other, to hear each other, and where the chicks will be able to run straight to the adults without getting lost or hurt.

But this time? No need. Tatiana was right there. We simply opened the baby bag and let them go! Epic!

Enjoy this amazing moment. And I’d be remiss if I also didn’t give a shout out here to dad Stacy. While Tatiana stole the show, Stacy too demonstrated an off the charts dedication to his family and stood right by Tatiana, carefully working the perimeter to protect her while she went straight in for those babies.

Enjoy: