After an adventure, Piping plover chicks (Charadrius melodus) head back to where it all started—tucked beneath dad’s protective, downy feathers. Why build a nest when you can be one? This patient piping plover father offers sanctuary to his four chicks—part parenting, part survival, all love. On Nova Scotia’s fragile shores, moments like these are as vital as they are vanishing. Endangered but enduring, the species carries on one chick at a time
