Piping plover making a comeback
By Kimberly Struthers

NEBRASKA GAME AND PARKS COMMISSION

Piping plover (Charadrius melodus), a federally endangered Great Lakes shorebird, is making a comeback through the teamwork of a multiagency recovery effort. The number of breeding pairs of plovers within the Great Lakes reached an all-time high of 55 during the 2004 breeding season. This number included 19 pairs of plovers that nested at popular recreational beaches in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (Michigan). Recovery efforts helped the birds nesting within the park to fledge a record number of chicks, 38% (36 of 93) of the entire Great Lakes fledglings, despite an exceptionally wet season that threatened to destroy some of the nests.

Great Lakes–wide plover conservation management practices included establishing perimeter fencing around nesting areas to allow birds to incubate without disturbance, erecting exclosures around full clutches to protect eggs from depredation, and collecting abandoned eggs for captive rearing. Park staff and volunteers conducted daily plover patrols to ensure that adults and chicks were accounted for. They also informed visitors about the park’s plover conservation program and helped them view the birds through spotting scopes.

Park staff continued a predator control program at Dimmick’s Point on North Manitou Island, which helped to fledge the highest number of chicks (18) at any nesting location within the Great Lakes. The predator control program was jointly funded by the Cooperative Conservation Initiative of the Department of the Interior, the NPS Natural Resource Preservation Program, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

NPS

Park staff manually raises a piping plover nest to protect it from storm surge at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, one of several resource management measures that are aiding the comeback of the federally listed endangered bird species. 

Partnership is the hallmark of the recovery effort for the piping plover and a critical component of recent success. In 2004, because of the conservation efforts of several agencies, the Great Lakes piping plovers are a third of the way to reaching the recovery goal of 150 pairs, which is a milestone worth celebrating.

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