Kentish plover
Parental care is variable within birds and the Kentish plover has a slightly different mechanism to other shorebirds. As discussed above, both parents incubate the eggs, however both parents do not always stick around once the eggs have hatched. It is not unusual for one parent to leave the chicks after a variable amount of time; this is referred to as brood desertion. Brood desertion is the ‘termination of care, by either one or both parents, before the offspring are capable of surviving independently’ and usually occurs after one week of the brood being accompanied by both parents. Brood desertion has been observed in both males and females, however females desert the brood significantly more frequently than males.