Species Profile – Piping Plover

Piping Plover. Photo: Tom Grey

The Piping Plover is a dainty, sand-colored shorebird, distinguished from other small North American plovers by its pale plumage and bright orange legs. It occurs in three distinct populations: the Atlantic Coast population, which breeds on sandy beaches along the east coast from Newfoundland to North Carolina; the Great Lakes population; and the Northern Great Plains population, which breeds on major river systems, and alkali lakes and wetlands of the upper Midwest. Piping Plovers winter on Gulf Coast beaches from Florida to Mexico, and on Atlantic Coast beaches from Florida to North Carolina. Some winter as far south as the Bahamas and West Indies.

Loss of sandy beaches and lakeshores due to recreational, residential, and commercial development has decimated suitable Piping Plover habitat. Reservoir construction, channel excavation, and modification of river flows have also eliminated sandbar nesting habitat along hundreds of miles of the Missouri and Platte Rivers. Winter habitats along the Gulf Coast are threatened by industrial and urban expansion.

Human activities can disturb Piping Plovers on both their breeding and wintering grounds. Beachgoers, their vehicles and pets, and nest predators, such as gulls, raccoons, foxes, and feral cats often disturb and destroy nests. Increased beach use also threatens the quality of available wintering sites.

The Piping Plover was listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1986, by which time its breeding population was estimated at fewer than 5,000 birds. The Atlantic Coast and Northern Great Plains breeding populations were listed as threatened, while the Great Lakes population, which was even smaller, was classified as endangered.

Intensive recovery efforts have helped turn Piping Plover declines around in the years since listing. Successful management techniques have included fencing off and posting breeding sites, building predator exclosures around nests, actively removing predators, and working with river system managers to ensure appropriate water flows at nesting sites.

ABC has been an active participant in Piping Plover conservation, especially through its Cats Indoors! Campaign. Public education on cat control has been particularly important in states such as New Jersey, where many cats are abandoned in beach areas, threatening nesting Piping Plovers and other shorebirds. ABC also successfully led the charge to halt use of the highly toxic pesticide fenthion in Florida that was threatening Piping Plovers and other birds.

In 2005, the total Piping Plover population was estimated to have reached 6,410, an encouraging sign that conservation efforts are working. Anne Hecht, the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Recovery Lead for the plover’s Atlantic Coast population, states: “Overall, the population is growing, but only because of intensive protection efforts. These must continue to keep Piping Plover populations increasing.”

In 2006, the International Piping Plover Census completed a comprehensive survey of all populations. This census, begun in 1991, is conducted every five years across the species’ breeding and wintering ranges. It is one of the most extensive endangered species census efforts in North America, involving federal agencies in the United States and Canada, and many state and local organizations. Data from the 2006 survey are not yet available, but conservationists are hopeful that, once fully analyzed, they will show a continuing upward trend that rewards the tremendous conservation work that has gone in to keeping this shorebird on the road to recovery.