你可能聽過有貓有九條命，可是你看過九條腿的小鳥嗎？美國有一名攝影師Michael Milicia在麻州拍攝到一隻「九腿笛鴴」，正悠閒的在海灘上散步，後來才發現原來是有4隻雛鳥躲在成鳥的翅膀下取暖所致。
這張照片是Milicia在麻州的Sandy Point State Reservation所拍攝，他表示，雛鳥在出生後幾個小時內就可以走動和覓食，但是孵化後的第一週卻無法維持自己的體溫，所以必須定期返回父母的羽翼下取暖，才會出現這樣的情況。另外，他也指出，因為其中一條腿被擋住，所以只有九條。
↑有網友看到後認為，照片充分展現溫暖人心的親情。（圖／截取自每日郵報）
根據消息指出，笛鴴體形有如麻雀，是一種北方的候鳥，在冬天會遷徙到墨西哥灣、美國南大西洋海岸或西印度群島，主要棲息地是海岸邊的沙灘或石灘，平時以水中的昆蟲、軟體動物和甲殼類為食。
Are you pulling my leg? This bird got a photographer twitching with excitement when it went for a walk on the beach.
At one point, the piping plover looked like it had a staggering nine legs as it took its four newborn chicks under its wing to keep them warm.
It would have 'had' ten limbs but one was obscured by the others.
The chicks are able to walk and feed themselves within a few hours of hatching but they have to huddle together for the first week to keep warm. They can fly after one month.
Photographer Michael Milicia, 53, snapped away as the young shorebirds hid from view at Sandy Point State Reservation in Massachusetts in the U.S.
The reservation is a popular nesting site for the threatened species and access to the beach nesting areas is often restricted.
Michael said: 'The chicks are very independent and wander in all directions with no control from the parent.
'If they wander too far, the adult bird will call and the chicks will return.
'For the first week after hatching, the chicks are unable to maintain their own body temperature. They must periodically return to one of their parents to be brooded under the warmth of their protective wings.
'I took the picture as the adult plover took the four chicks on a stroll to feed outside of the protected nesting area.
'In one image, there are four chicks under the parent. One leg of one chick is mostly obscured by another so there are only nine legs clearly visible.
'The chicks are less than a week old as the parent will only brood chicks for the first seven days or so after hatching.'
Michael, from Massachusetts, said it was unclear whether the brooding parent was male or female because they look 'pretty much identical'.
He added: 'I most often lie flat on the beach and move around by crawling commando-style with the camera mounted on a ground pod.
'This not only yields more intimate, eye-level images but also serves to disassociate you in the mind of the birds from the form of a threatening human.
'Once you are down on the ground, you are quickly accepted into the birds' environment and will often have shorebirds approaching you from all directions.Some of them even come too close to focus.
'When I am finished photographing, I either wait for the birds to move away from me or I slowly back well away from them before standing.'
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