Piping plover
The piping plover (Charadrius melodus) is a small sand-colored, sparrow-sized shorebird that nests and feeds along coastal sand and gravel beaches in North America. The adult has yellow-orange-red legs, a black band across the forehead from eye to eye, and a black stripe running along the breast line. This chest band is usually thicker in males during the breeding season, and it is the only reliable way to tell the sexes apart. The bird is difficult to see when it is standing still, as it blends well with open, sandy beach habitats. It typically runs in short, quick spurts and then stops.
There are two subspecies of piping plovers: the eastern population is known as Charadrius melodus melodus and the mid-west population is known as C. m. circumcinctus. The bird's name is derived from its plaintive bell-like whistles which are often heard before the bird is visible.
In 1986, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service listed the Great Lakes population as endangered and the Northern Great Plains and Atlantic populations as threatened.[3] Intensive conservation efforts have yielded slow population growth, but only some populations have met the recovery goals set for them.[4] The growth trend is expected to reverse if conservation efforts were stopped.[5] Total population was estimated to be between 7600 and 8400 individuals in 2020.[6]
Their breeding habitat includes beaches and sand flats on the Atlantic coast, the shores of the Great Lakes, and in the mid-west of Canada and the United States. They nest on sandy or gravel beaches or shoals.[7] These shorebirds forage for food on beaches, usually by sight, moving across the beaches in short bursts. Generally, piping plovers will forage for food around the high tide wrack zone and along the water's edge. They eat mainly insects, marine worms, and crustaceans.
Taxonomy[edit]
American naturalist George Ord described the piping plover in 1824. Two subspecies are recognized, including nominate C. m. melodus of the Atlantic Coast and C. m. circumcinctus of the Great Plains. On average, circumcinctus is darker overall with more contrastingly dark cheeks and lores. Breeding circumcinctus males show more extensive black on forehead and bill-base and more often shows complete breast-bands. Some overlap exists.
Piping plover protected nesting area on Cavendish Beach, P.E.I.
New York City Parks Department employee dressed in a piping plover costume for a "Plover Day" conservation event in 2019
The piping plover is globally threatened and endangered; it is uncommon and local within its range, and has been listed by the United States as "endangered" in the Great Lakes region and "threatened" in the remainder of its range.[18][19] While it is federally threatened, the piping plover has been listed as state endangered in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The Parker River Refuge on Plum Island, Massachusetts is a national network of lands and rivers dedicated to the safety of its native wildlife and specifically the piping plover. Protecting the Piper with full beach closures, the Refuge now "has the second largest plover population on the [Massachusetts] North Shore".[20]
In eastern Canada, the piping plover is found only on coastal beaches. In 1985, it was declared an endangered species by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.[21] A large population in Ontario has disappeared entirely.[22] In 2008, however, piping plover nests were found at Wasaga Beach and near Sauble Beach, Ontario, along the Ontario Great Lakes shores.[23] There is also some evidence of nesting at other sites in Ontario, including Port Elgin, Ontario in 2014.[24][25]
In the 19th century and early 20th century, the piping plover was used for its feathers, as were many other birds at the time, as decorations for women's hats. These decorations, called plumes, became a symbol of high society, especially those from larger rare birds. This practice led to its initial population decline. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 helped the population recover through the 1930s.[26] The second decline in the piping plover's population and range has been attributed to increased development, shoreline stabilization efforts,[27] habitat loss and human activity near nesting sites in the decades following World War II.[26] The Great Lakes populations eventually shrank to only around two dozen.[22] On the Missouri River sandbars, the number of breeding individuals varied, with the population increasing from 2012 to 2017 following a major habitat creation event.[28]
Critical nesting habitats are now being protected to help the population during its breeding season. Populations have seen significant increases since the protection programs began, but the species remains in serious danger.[4] Some USGS research suggests that in the northern Great Plains, low connectivity between scattered habitats mean that even maintaining the current population sizes will be a great challenge, and there's an 8–37% risk of those subpopulations disappearing near the end of the century.[29] Current conservation strategies include identification and preservation of known nesting sites; public education; limiting or preventing pedestrian and/or off-road vehicle (ORV) traffic near nests and hatched chicks; limiting predation of free-ranging cats, dogs and other pets on breeding pairs, eggs and chicks;[30] and removal of foxes, raccoons, skunks, and other predators.[31]
In coastal areas such as Plymouth,[32] Cape Cod, Long Island, Sandy Hook,[33] Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware, North Manitou Island in Lake Michigan, and most recently, Cape Hatteras National Seashore on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, beach access to pedestrians and off-road vehicles has been limited to protect piping plovers and their chicks at critical times of the breeding season.
Many studies have documented piping plovers' successes and struggles with human recreation or other predatory concerns. For example, piping plovers are much less likely to successfully fledge in heavily trafficked, popular recreational areas. Additionally, those that do fledge in active recreational areas tend to take longer to fledge. Most interestingly, chicks will spend less time foraging on weekends, since this tends to be when beaches are most active and disturbance will be at its highest.[34] Despite the multitude of anthropogenic conservation concerns regarding the piping plover, a study on plovers on Long Island, New York found that the most significant cause of nest failure in the species was not humans, but depredation by the Red fox. Birds either lost their nests due to depredation of the nest, or significant predator presence and subsequent abandonment of the nest by adults. Birds rarely abandoned nests due to human presence.[35]
Various environmental organizations are involved in aiding restoration efforts. The Goldenrod Foundation unsuccessfully filed suit against the Town of Plymouth in 2010 and 2015 to restrict offroad vehicle access to breeding habitat.[36][37]
In 2019, the first documented pair of piping plovers in Chicago nested at Montrose Beach. The pair, named Monty and Rose by locals, hatched three chicks in July, becoming the first within Cook County in 60 years. Threats to the nest and chicks included a planned music festival that was canceled to ensure the birds were protected.[38] Monty and Rose returned to the area in 2020 and 2021, again laying eggs and hatching chicks, although some eggs and chicks were lost to natural predators.[39] In May 2022, the male shorebird, Monty, died after returning to Montrose Beach.[40] Rose did not return in 2022. In late April 2023, Monty and Rose's offspring Imani was spotted at Montrose Beach along with an unbanded male and an unbanded female.[41] In 2024, Imani returned to Montrose Beach again, this time joined by another banded male and a female named Searocket, who had been released at the beach as a captive-reared chick the previous summer; Imani and Searocket produced their first egg in late May.[42]
In popular culture[edit]
In May 2023, the United States Postal Service released a piping plover Forever stamp as part of the Endangered Species set, based on a photograph from Joel Sartore's Photo Ark. The stamp was dedicated at a ceremony at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, one of the biggest nesting sites for piping plovers.[47]