A Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius) father keeps a vigilant eye on his nearby nest from a creek-side perch. In Spotted Sandpipers, males take on most of the parenting duties, including incubating the eggs and protecting the newly hatched chicks, while females provide less parental care. One goal of my research is to determine how parental effort of males and females is related to environmental conditions.

[Photo by Joseph Yu]

[Caption by Jessica Schaefer]

[Edited by Ian Ramshorn Haliburton]