Piping Plovers- Glen T's photos (1 Viewer)

Our fellow forum member, Glen Tempke , has been sharing some of the most beautiful photos in the gallery of ENDANGERED Piping Plovers, both chicks and adults, that I have ever seen. Here's an example-
Piping Plover chick (by Glen Tempke)
Piping plovers breed only in North America in three geographic regions: the Atlantic Coast, the Northern Great Plains, and the Great Lakes.
Piping plover populations were federally listed as threatened and endangered in 1986. The Northern Great Plains and Atlantic Coast populations are threatened, and the Great Lakes population is endangered. They are considered threatened throughout their wintering range.
In recent decades, piping plover populations have drastically declined, especially in the Great Lakes. Breeding habitat has been replaced with shoreline development and recreation. Since 1983, the number of nesting pairs has ranged from 12 to 32.
My husband and I both volunteer annually for 'Piping Plover Patrol' along Lake Huron at their breeding grounds, which is overseen by our Dept. of Natural Resources. Last year every single chick that fledged at the Tawas Point area perished. Piping plovers are very sensitive to the presence of humans. Too much disturbance causes the parent birds to abandon their nest. People (either on foot or in a vehicle) using the beaches where the birds nest sometimes accidentally crush eggs or young birds. Dogs and cats often harass and kill the birds. Other animals, such as fox, gulls, and crows, prey on the young plovers or eggs. In short, they're having a heck of a time and need all the help we can give them if they are to survive.
If you haven't seen Glens photos, you are really missing a treat. These birds could very well become extinct in our lifetime folks. Piping Plovers are special and so are Glens images. Thank you for sharing them Glen, I have enjoyed each and every one. They are precious. :t:

Cindy, I always try and point out rarities if I know about them, I have looked at Glens pics, and as usual they are great, However how do you expect your average birder( especially from outside the US ) To know that they are very rare?
it would of helped if someone presumably from your side of the pond, had pointed it out! I took photos of pink pigeon and black winged stilt from the galleryand posted them on the forums because I was told they are special, and I would of done the same for Glens pic had I known how rare these birds are. Thanks for pointing it out .

I think maybe we should have forum US rarities?

To be honest I hadn't realised the importance of these photos as I know nothing about these birds. Thanks for pointing it out Cindy.

I just said that:flyaway:

Thank you for all of your kind words and interest in these pictures. I could have started a thread in the Rarities forum but I didn't realize you wanted pics here - I thought we were supposed to keep pics in the Gallery.

Also, while this species is rare in the sense of having a greatly reduced population, it is not considered rare in Massachusetts from a birding perspective - Piping Plovers are routinely seen by birders here. The fact that they live on sandy beaches with little or no cover probably makes them easier to see than their numbers would indicate.

As Cindy indicated, the Great Lakes population is classified as endangered and may well be on its way to extinction. But the Atlantic coast population is increasing and is classified as threatened (not as bad as endangered). There were 1,525 breeding pairs on the east coast in 2001, up from 790 in 1986 when they were listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Massachusetts is now the top state for breeding Piping Plovers, with 495 pairs in 2001 compared to only 126 in 1987. They fledged a healthy average of 1.49 chicks per pair in 2001 and preliminary estimates showed a substantial population increase in 2002. I got these numbers from these reports:

http://pipingplover.fws.gov/index.html

http://www.state.ma.us/dfwele/dfw/nhesp/ploverreport.pdf

The relative success of Piping Plovers in Massachusetts is probably the result of closing several of our largest beaches to all human visitors during the breeding season, such as the beach at Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, which is several miles long. This policy has been very controversial and unpopular with beach-goers, but it seems to be working. Nests are also protected with exclosures, a cage intended to keep predators out. These are also controversial, since some predators like crows are intelligent enough to figure out what the exclosures mean and just sit on top until the plovers emerge. But they are still in use so I imagine their benefits outweight the risks.

I took my pictures at a small beach that is not closed during the breeding season. About ten pairs breed there. The beach receives fairly heavy foot traffic, but is closed to vehicles. I'm sure people and their dogs must cause some mortality, but the plovers there seemed pretty accustomed to people. They watched me when I first approached and sat down, but did not retreat. After a while (I was shooting for about four hours) they ignored me and would sometimes approach to within 20'.

The adults were mostly resting and easy to shoot, but the chicks were a serious challenge, constantly racing around the beach like tiny wind-up toys. I missed many shots because I could not locate them in the camera monitor fast enough. I just acquired a red dot sight that should make it much easier to track moving birds while digiscoping and am looking forward to returning this summer to try for some more.

Glen

PS: My last name is spelled Tepke. But nearly everyone thinks it should have an 'm' in there; I think my family and I are the only ones who spell it that way.

thanks for the posting additional info. on the plovers Glen & I'm thrilled to hear they are no longer on the endangered list in MA- that is just wonderful. Your photos are really just so precious and sorry for mis-spelling your last name
good birding & plover watching,
Cindy