The Great Lakes Piping Plover, a small, sand-colored, beach-combing bird which strongly resembles its far more common cousin the killdeer, was once a familiar sight on the shores of the Great Lakes. An Estimated 800 to 900 breeding pairs chirped and squabbled and chased their chicks up and down the white-sand beaches along all 5 of the big lakes. Unfortunately, they became a popular game bird at the turn of the century and were hunted to near extinction. Although legislation was enacted in the early 1900's making hunting the birds illegal, the piping plover never recovered. By the time the birds limped their way onto the Federal Endangered Species list on January 10, 1986 there were only 12 pair remaining in the world.
The biggest reason for this species decimation is the demise of their habitat. The plovers require wide, sandy beaches scattered with small pebbles and cobblestones to nest on and it is imperative to the birds that those beaches be deserted. Historically, plovers nested on the Detroit Metro beach and the Lake Michigan beaches right outside Chicago. Those places are no longer deserted. In fact, it's almost impossible to find a deserted area
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anywhere along the Great Lakes. Even the most remote regions along Lake Superior have a lot of off-road-vehicle (ORV) traffic. Today, the bird's only remaining habitat is in northern Michigan along the beaches of Lake Superior and Lake Michigan and on a few scattered, uninhabited islands in Lake Michigan.
Finding the undisturbed surroundings they require for nesting is a problem for the birds because they need the same kind of beaches people favor and they need them during the warm months of summer.
The plovers arrive on their prospective nesting beach from late May, to early June. They soon build a nest which consists of a small, shallow scrape the male makes in the sand and sometimes lines with little, white pebbles and/or pieces of driftwood. Once the tiny, fragile, speckled eggs are laid, usually in a clutch of 4, they must be incubated by the adult birds for 28 days. It requires both parents to incubate the eggs and if one bird is killed or driven off, the other will abandon the nest. The young birds hatch around the fourth of July. As soon as the chicks are dry from hatching, they leave the nest under their parents watchful eye. It is another 30 days before the young can fly and be on their own. Near the end of summer, the plovers congregate in groups on undisturbed beaches before migrating. By September they are ready to fly south to their winter homes, most often the ocean beaches around Florida but occasionally as far north as South Carolina and as far south as Mexico.
Nesting on the ground and in the open makes the plover's nest, eggs and young very vulnerable to predators. Because both the eggs and the chicks (who will "hide" by remaining motionless when approached) are extremely well camouflaged, they are also
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frighteningly susceptible to the striding feet of even the most well intentioned human. And, if startled by someone, the adult bird, in an attempt to protect their young, will try to draw the unwelcome intruder away by moving off from the nest, frequently faking a broken wing and trilling their distinctive, high pitched call. Unfortunately, this leaves the eggs and/or young birds easy prey for the swooping gulls, crows and ravens that lie in wait for a quick meal.
With their numbers at a critical, all-time low, it was becoming more and more obvious that the Great Lakes Piping Plover was going to need some help if it was going to survive.
"I first learned about the plovers sometime in the seventies," said Evelyn Wood, owner of Woods Resort in Grand Marais. "Some people came to the door and asked if they could cross my land looking for plovers. I didn't know what a plover was so they showed me in my bird book. I've sort of kept track of them ever since."
Since that time, Evelyn Wood has become known as "the plover lady of Grand Marais." And when she says she "sort of kept track of them" she means she has kept a detailed, written journal of the plover's progress, triumphs and tragedies, on the Grand Marais beaches that goes back to the early 1980's. Evelyn Wood became an important part of the effort to save the plovers.
In 1985, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) put together a team to research the plight of and explore ways to save the plover. As a result of the information they compiled, in 1988, Lake Superior State University (LSSU) began an intervention plan patterned after a similar program used successfully on endangered
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species in the northwest United States. This project involved placing a square cage, 1.5' high with 3'sides, made of 2" by 4" wire mesh (this original cage design has been replaced by a 5' triangular cage) over the nest after a full clutch of eggs had been laid. The purpose of this cage known as an "exclosure" was to keep predators such as dogs, skunks, foxes, gulls and ravens away from the eggs but, by using the relatively large mesh, allow the parent birds free access.
"We tested the cages in 1987 on the killdeer," said professor Thomas Allan of LSSU.
In an attempt to assure themselves that their presence and the use of the "exclosures" would not disturb the breeding plovers causing them to abandon their nest sights, Allen's team practiced on the killdeer. The killdeer is another beach-combing bird, similar in size, nesting habits and temperament to the plover, but less picky about its choice of nest sights and therefore, far more prolific. When the killdeer accepted the cages, successfully hatching one season's clutch in their confines, Allen's team felt comfortable enough to go ahead and try using them on the plovers during the 1988 nesting season.
As an added precaution, to further protect the plovers from the natural, human tendency to get as
close as possible to an obviously enclosed area and investigate, a second "exclosure" consisting of
2 levels of twine fencing was erected. The twine fence extended 30 meters around the cage. On
the fence posts at the 4 corners of this flimsy barrier are signs warning people to stay out and
explaining the plight of the plover.
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Allen's program, still being implemented by LSSU, was and continues to be a success.
LSSU owns and operates the world's only private plover reserve located at the former Vermilion Lifesaving Station on Lake Superior. Allen's program is being used both on the private reserve and on all public and private lands where plover are found. Every spring, LSSU students walk all likely beaches searching for plover.
Today, nearly 10 years after the program began, there are 26 breeding pairs of Great Lakes Piping Plover. And, while that's more than twice the number there were when the program began, it's still only a little more than 50 birds and a long way from seeing the plovers fly off the endangered species list. Each egg and each bird is very precious. But, as researchers learn about the plover, more can be done to help them. Project participants have even been successful in incubating unhatched eggs and introducing the new hatchlings to existing family groups where they are accepted, and raised with the rest of the young.
"When the chicks hatch," writes Andrew Bacon, piping plover biologist, in his 1996 final report to the Michigan Endangered Species Office in Lansing, "it is important to watch for abandonment of eggs so they can be incubated. Bad weather often causes the parents to follow the chicks to keep them warm rather than waiting for the last egg to hatch. Lots of people on the beach during hatching can also cause abandonment by making the plovers feel the need to protect the chicks instead of hatching the last egg."
In the same report, Bacon tells of saving a near dead chick.
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"On July 25," he writes, "a cold, rainy spell hit Grand Marais with temperatures in the forties, steady mist, and a strong offshore wind. One motionless chick was found face down in the sand. One foot away was a parent warming another chick while staring down at the still one. The adult and chick left after the parent gave a few, final looks down at the motionless chick. I continued watching the parents behavior toward the downed chick for fifteen minutes to determine that the chick was abandoned and went to pick up the chick. Surprisingly, when touched, it moved its wings. The chick was too cold to stand, open its eyes or resist. The chick was taken back to Wood's Resort and kept in a heated building."
"He (the chick) didn't seem to be getting better," said Evelyn Wood, "so I held him cupped in my hands for about 45 minutes so that he could feel my pulse and my warmth. Then, he opened his eyes. Before long he was running around in the enclosure we made for him in the house."
"He was released around noon (of the next day)," Bacon writes, "after the sun had warmed up the air. One person stood fifty meters in each direction up the beach from the family, preventing the family from running away from people on just one side. When released, the chick ran up to the first parent in sight. The family was watched closely the rest of the day to ensure the chick was not rejected. When this happened the chick was eleven days old, showing how vulnerable chicks are in their first twenty days."
The fight to save the plover is still a group effort. Along with LSSU, the University of
Minnesota, the University of Michigan Biology Station at Pellston, the
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Michigan DNR, U.S. Forestry Service and Park Service along with other governmental and private agencies, particularly the Nature Conservancy.
The Nature Conservancy is a private, non-profit, non-governmental agency with an international membership formed by people interested in saving rare and endangered plants and animals. Their mission is to find, protect and maintain the best examples of the natural world. In most instances, the Nature Conservancy accomplishes this by purchasing the land the endangered plant or animal lives on. This would not work for the plovers because sandy beaches do so much shifting that the plover's habitat is not always in the same place. In order to help protect endangered species, such as the plovers, the Nature Conservancy has instituted a Natural Areas Registry Program in which they contact the land owner and make him/her aware of the plight of the endangered species and enlist the help of the land owner to help protect it. In most instances, private land owner participation has been very positive.
But, of course, there are exceptions to the rule.
"People don't like not being able to use their beach however they want to," Wood said. "One time, we had someone (on Lighthouse Point in Grand Marais) go out and just smash a nest and eggs with a rock."
The plovers have never again nested on Lighthouse Point.
The Endangered Species Act makes it illegal to take, harass, or harm the piping plover and affords
some protection to its habitat. Penalties for violating the act range up to $100,000.
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The Great Lakes Piping Plover can make a come-back, but people have got to give them protection and leave them some room. Even in Grand Marais, beaches houses and noisy water craft are beginning to move in and take over the domain of the plover.
"Four years ago there were two plovers nesting there on the beach." said William Davis, Grand Marais resident pointing sadly down the beach to a pair of personal water-craft, a life jacket and a gas can. "Now, two jet ski's nest there."