Why piping plovers are endangered

Common along the Atlantic coast in the 19th century, the birds nearly disappeared due to excessive hunting for the millinery trade. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of helped the Piping Plover rebound in the 20th century to a peak in the s but the population has declined again, apparently due to increased development and recreational use of beaches since World War II.

The most recent surveys found about 1, pairs along the Atlantic. After establishing a nesting territory and performing courtship rituals, the pairs form depressions in the sand somewhere on the high beach close to the dunes for nests that are sometimes filled with small stones or fragments of shell. The four eggs hatch in about 25 days and the downy young soon follow their parents for marine worms, crustaceans and insects they pluck from the sand.

The eggs and the young are well camouflaged and will go undetected unless stepped on. When intruders come close, the young squat motionless on the sand while the parents attempt to attract the intruders' attention to themselves. They often do this by faking a broken wing. Surviving young fledge and fly in 30 days. After more than 80 years, piping plovers were spotted on Toronto Island.

Something we can all celebrate! Anyone interested in providing that helping hand to the Toronto Islands piping plovers is encouraged to contact the Toronto Region Conservation Authority.

WWF is collecting postal codes so we can send you news and invitations most relevant to your area. Donate Monthly. Snowy Plover Latin: Charadrius nivosus. Wilson's Plover Latin: Charadrius wilsonia. These birds need your help. Get Audubon in Your Inbox Let us send you the latest in bird and conservation news. Email address. Find Audubon Near You Visit your local Audubon center, join a chapter, or help save birds with your state program.

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Almost gone from Great Lakes as a breeder, and has declined elsewhere. Increased human activity on beaches affects Great Lakes and Atlantic Coast birds. Irregular water releases from dams often flood out nesting attempts on rivers in the interior. Sandy beaches, tidal flats. Nests in open sandy situations near water, in a variety of settings: beaches along Atlantic Coast and Great Lakes; sandbars along major rivers on northern Great Plains; gravel or sand flats next to alkali lakes.

Winters along coast, on tidal flats and beaches. Off-road vehicles, which ruin habitat, crush nests and eggs, and directly kill birds by running over them are a key threat. Chicks that move across primary vehicle paths on their way to feed are in particular danger — especially when they get stalled alongside tall tire-track edges or stuck inside ruts.

To save piping plovers from vehicle mortality, the Center has been working hard to keep off-road vehicles out of precious habitat and to establish rules that prohibit motorized vehicle use in all designated critical habitat and on all federal, state-owned, and state-managed public lands within piping plover habitat.

We're also fighting the propsed Keystone XL pipeline , which poses catastrophic threats to the piping plover and other imperiled species.