The Rare, Endangered Piping Duck

This summer, the Missouri River Piping Plover crew discovered a new species, the rare and endangered Piping Duck. It can be seen below, in it's natural habitat.

(I swear, this is NOT an oversized Mallard decoy painted to look like a Piping Plover)

We decided to capture this rare bird, and bring it home for further studies. It can be seen below, brooding it's oddly shaped and sized plover babies.

The Piping Duck and it's adopted children...