FUZZY, FLIGHTLESS AND FRAGILE
Heavy beach crowds during the Fourth of July weekend present a special danger to Piping Plover chicks that cannot fly to escape unleashed dogs, careless footsteps, or off-road vehicles. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asks holiday beach goers to be extra careful this weekend, and for the next month, when visiting their favorite beaches. Please do not enter any posted or closed areas; nesting and chick foraging areas are clearly marked with special warning signs, and twine fencing.
A tiny chick is no match for an unleashed dog, stated Service biologist Rachel Miller. And egg clutches laying on an open stretch of beach are pretty helpless against an off-road vehicle or even a careless footstep. We need peoples help to protect these birds, whose numbers are still critically low. With less than 50 breeding adults in the entire Great Lakes, the Piping Plover is considered to be the most endangered species in the ecosystem.
It takes about four weeks for hatching plovers to emerge from their eggs, and another three to four weeks before they can fly. It is during this time that extra protection is needed, sometimes in the form of special fencing around the nest that lets the parent birds in and out, but prevents predators such as raccoons and foxes from getting to the eggs. Once the chicks hatch, they leave the fenced area to forage for insects along the shoreline and are then very vulnerable to both natural and human disturbance.
Nesting sites for the plover are now limited to the more undisturbed shoreline areas of northern Michigan and Wisconsin, such as Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Wilderness and Leelenau State Parks, and other remote areas, Miller said. People can really make a difference in saving this unique bird by leashing their dogs, respecting the beach areas that are temporarily closed to human traffic, and even volunteering with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources as a Piping Plover Patrol Volunteer!
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists team up with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the National Park Service, the Bad River Tribe (Wisconsin), universities, and private conservation organizations to monitor the population numbers and protect Piping Plover nesting sites. Volunteers and biologists scout beach areas previously used by the birds, as well as check possible new locations in early summer. When a nest is found, or even a pair of birds that appear to be making plans to nest, local landowners and officials are contacted. Normally, an exclosure fence is put up around the nest and signs posted.
For the first time since 1983, a pair of nesting Piping Plovers was spotted on Wisconsins Lake Superior shore. The birds were welcomed by the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and the Bad River Tribe, which manages the land near the nest.
This was an exciting discovery for Wisconsin, stated Service biologist Joel Trick. It can only help the situation if the birds are finding new places to safely nest on their own.
Although the numbers of Great Lakes Piping Plovers are still quite low, there have been 23 nesting pairs for the last 2 years, up from a low of only 12 pairs in 1990. There were 43 new plovers that made it to the flight (or fledge) stage in 1997. Reports are still coming in for the 1998 season, and numbers appear to be the same. Although the species decline seems to have stopped, recovery is still far from assured. Full recovery will require many more breeding pairs in a stable population where threats are limited.
It will take responsible beach use, shoreline development compatible with the birds nesting needs and continued research to save the Piping Plover in the Great Lakes, Trick said. Continued efforts from volunteers, agencies and beach-loving people are critical to that success.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies. For further information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our home page at: http://midwest.fws.gov
