Click Here to read
about
a very special contribution from:
Lindsay & Cory
and their classmates from
Nashoba Brooks Independent School
 Adult Piping Plover |
"We're in a position right
now where we can make a decision whether a species can go extinct or
not, and we can
say either 'Yes', we're going to let that species go extinct, or 'No',
we're
going to do something to try to keep that species from going extinct,
and
in this case, we feel that the decline of the species is in large part
due
to our own actions - the actions of the human race - so we have the
responsibility
to at least look at those actions, and see if we're sure we want to
cause
the extinction of a species like the piping plover, and perhaps we'll
make
the decision at some point that we will, but hopefully not."Lee Elliott, Biologist, Texas Parks
& Wildlife - excerpt from "A
Vanishing Melody: The Call of the Piping Plover", ©1996 |
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Piping plover adults are normally 6-1/2 to 7
inches
in length with a whitish underside, and pale brown upperparts. They
have
a distinctive black band across the base of the neck, which is obscure
on the winter plummage of adults. Nesting begins in late April,
early May,
and can last into September.
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The black bands are obscure on young piping plover chicks. They begin foraging for small invertebrae soon after hatching. Parents do not feed their chicks, rather they act as sentries, and provide a soft feathery refuge for their chicks to snuggle under. Chicks are able to fly in less than 30 days. | Piping plovers migrate north in the spring to breed and nest, seeking habitat in open, sparsely vegetated areas near the water, such as river sandbars, prairie sloughs and alkalie wetlands, sand and gravel shorelines, and sandy beaches. Humans have taken much of this important habitat. |
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In 1996, the most extensive endangered
species census conducted in North America focused on piping
plovers. The census accounted
for 5,837 breeding plovers scattered primarily across beaches in 20
states
in the Great Plains, around the Great Lakes, and along the Atlantic
Coast,
as well as in 9 Canadian provinces.
The Atlantic Coast population has
approximately
1,240 breeding pairs that nest along coastal beaches from Newfoundland
to
North Carolina. This population experienced a 26.9% increase from
1991 to 1996 because of intense efforts to alleviate nest predation and
human disturbance,
and to maintain the natural processes of habitat formation.
The Great Lakes population in the United
States
has all but disappeared. Nesting sites have been whittled down
from
eight states to only one with a viable breeding population - the state
of
Michigan. The 1996 census reflects a 12.8% increase since 1991,
but
their numbers are still dangerously small with only 22 breeding pairs
remaining.
The Northern Great Plains population ranges
from
Alberta to Manitoba, Canada, and south to Nebraska in the United
States. According to the 1996 Census, this segment is the largest
of the three with
1,640 breeding pairs. Unfortunately, the Northern Great Plains
population
has experienced a 5% decline since 1991.
The piping plover was added to the federal list of Threatened and Endangered Species in 1985, and is protected under the Endangered Species Act. The Great Lakes population has received an endangered status while the other two populations are listed as threatened. Unfortunately, the Endangered Species Act itself is threatened by Congressional action, making its future as uncertain as the future of those species it serves to protect. |
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