When you head to the beach for the July 4 holiday, the American Bird Conservancy asks that you "fish, swim and play 50 yards away" from beach-nesting birds. Many are still tending to their young, and some still are sitting on eggs. Beach-nesters have a later breeding cycle than robins and other small birds of spring that we're familiar with in Western Pennsylvania. Many people don't even notice shore birds, said ornithologist Mike Parr, vice president of program development for the American Bird Conservancy. Their feathers blend in with the sand, and so do their eggs and chicks. Their nests aren't made of twigs or straw, he said. Their nests are "just a little scrape in the...
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