Welcome back to the busy beach birds

The piping plovers are back, the tough little birds with the sweet little whistle of a voice that gives them their name. They’re easily spotted scurrying along beaches, the busiest birds in the avian community, always in hurry making a living off insects, marine worms and crustaceans.

In late summer they begin to head south to the southern coastal states, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. Come the middle of March they’re on the move north, and by the middle or the end of April they’re ready to settle back down at their northern homes.

Like Shelter Island.