*** Award Winning Broadcast ***
Outdoor Writers Association Of America
Conservation/Environment
Three Star Rating - VIDEO LIBRARIAN
Recommended Viewing
Three Star Rating - VIDEO LIBRARIAN
Recommended Viewing
Piping Plover (Charadrius Melodus) |
"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."
©1997 - Lee Elliott, Wildlife Biologist,
Texas Parks & Wildlife
|
 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. |
 The black bands are obscure on young 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 about 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. |
| 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 the numbers are still dangerously small with only 22 breeding pairs still 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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