From Great Lakes Wiki
The piping plover in the Great Lakes area is an endangered species. Endangered species are animals and plants that are in danger of becoming extinct. The Northern Great Plains and Atlantic coast piping plovers are threatened species. Threatened species are animals and plants that are likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. Identifying, protecting, and restoring endangered and threatened species is the primary objective of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's endangered species program.
What is the Piping Plover?
- Scientific Name - Charadrius melodus
- Appearance - These small, stocky shorebirds have a sand-colored upper body, a white underside, and orange legs. During the breeding season, adults have a black forehead, a black breast band, and an orange bill.
- Habitat - Piping plovers use wide, flat, open, sandy beaches with very little grass or other vegetation. Nesting territories often include small creeks or wetlands.
- Reproduction - The female lays four eggs in its small, shallow nest lined with pebbles or broken shells. Both parents care for the eggs and chicks. When the chicks hatch, they are able to run about and feed themselves within hours.
- Feeding Habits - The plovers eat insects, spiders, and crustaceans.
- Range - Piping plovers are migratory birds. In the spring and summer they breed in northern United States and Canada. There are three locations where piping plovers nest in North America: the shorelines of the Great Lakes, the shores of rivers and lakes in the Northern Great Plains, and along the Atlantic Coast. Their nesting range has become smaller over the years, especially in the Great Lakes area. In the fall, plovers migrate south and winter along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico or other southern locations. Biologists have a lot to learn about the lives of piping plovers in their winter range.
Why is the Piping Plover Endangered?
- Habitat Loss or Degradation - Many of the coastal beaches traditionally used by piping plovers for nesting have been lost to commercial, residential, and recreational developments. Through the use of dams or other water control structures, humans are able to raise and lower the water levels of many lakes and rivers of plover inland nest sites. Too much water in the spring floods the plovers' nests. Too little water over a long period of time allows grasses and other vegetation to grow on the prime nesting beaches, making these sites unsuitable for successful nesting.
- Nest Disturbance and Predation - Piping plovers are very sensitive to the presence of humans. Too much disturbance causes the parent birds to abandon their nest. People (either on foot or in a vehicle) using the beaches where the birds nest sometimes accidentally crush eggs or young birds. Dogs and cats often harass and kill the birds. Other animals, such as fox, gulls, and crows, prey on the young plovers or eggs.
Source: US Fish and Wildlife Web site
For more about the Piping Plover, click here.
Listen to a MichiganNOW report on Piping Plovers here.
Read more about Piping Plovers:
Researchers raise 3 plovers by hand Three piping plovers chicks from Ludington probably do not realize they’re nearly 140 miles away from home. The newly hatched birds are being raised by helpers from various zoos at the University of Michigan Biological Station, the headquarters for a University of Minnesota piping plover research team. Ludington Daily News 7/3/07
