The piping plover is a small Nearctic (i.e., North American) shorebird approximately 17 centimeters (7 inches) long with a wingspread of about 38 cm (15 in) (Palmer 1967). Wilcox (1959) found that breeding females were slightly heavier than males (55.6 grams vs. 54.9 g), had slightly shorter tail lengths (50.5 millimeters vs. 51.3 mm), but had similar wing lengths. Breeding birds have white underparts, light beige back and crown, white rump, and black upper tail with a white edge. In flight, each wing shows a single, white wing stripe with black highlights at the wrist joints and along the trailing edges. Breeding plumage characteristics are a single black breastband, which is often incomplete, and a black bar across the forehead. The black breastband and brow bar are generally more pronounced in breeding males than females (Wilcox 1939). The legs and bill are orange in summer, with a black tip on the bill.
In winter, the birds lose the black bands, the legs fade from orange to pale yellow, and the bill becomes mostly black. Palmer (1967) provides further details on the plumage and other characteristics of the piping plover.
For many years, ornithologists have debated the designation of two subspecies of piping plover. Moser (1942) argued that the extent and brightness of breastbands distinguished inland and Atlantic breeders, facilitating the acceptance of two subspecies, the inland C. m. circumcinctus and the coastal C. m. melodus, by the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) (AOU 1945). Wilcox (1959) considered the subspecies circumcinctus of dubious validity, noting occurrence of complete breastbands on 18% of the birds that he trapped on Long Island, lack of appreciable differences in wing and tail measurements of birds with different plumage types, and absence of relationship among plumages of adults and offspring. Electrophoretic analyses (Haig and Oring 1988a) did not detect any genetic differences among local or regional populations in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, North Dakota, Minnesota, and New Brunswick. Although the AOU (1957, 1983) continues to officially recognize the two subspecies, Haig and Oring (1988a) conclude that current information does not support subspecies designation.
Protection of the entire species Charadrius melodus under the ESA reflects its precarious status rangewide, but the Service also recognizes three distinct piping plover population segments, one designated as endangered, two as threatened. Recovery objectives have been established for each population. Despite intensive censusing of breeding sites rangewide at least since 1986 as well as marking of more than 2,700 birds between 1981 and 1989 (J.L. Spinks, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in litt. 1989), no interchange between Atlantic Coast and inland breeding populations has been reported. Although some mingling of birds from various breeding populations occurs in wintering habitat (Haig and Oring 1988b, Haig and Plissner 1993), all available evidence shows that Atlantic Coast piping plovers form a distinct breeding population. Dispersal within the Atlantic Coast population is discussed under Breeding Site Fidelity and Dispersal.
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URL address http://pipingplover.fws.gov/
Last updated March 15, 2000