Don’t Disturb the Piping Plover

Endangered Piping Plovers Need to be Left in Peace While Nesting

Feb 25, 2007

Humans often disturb Piping Plover nests without realizing it. Here are some pointers to keep in mind during breeding and nesting season.

Piping Plovers migrate north each spring and nest on beaches and sandbars along the northeast Atlantic coast, and salt flats and lake shores in the center of the continent. They begin to court and nest by late March in the southern part of their range (North Carolina), and in April and May in more northern areas (eastern Canada).

Many of the Piping Plovers’ chosen nesting sites are popular with people too – we fish at the water’s edge, picnic, walk, and exercise our dogs, even drive all terrain vehicles (ATVs). All too often, people unknowingly disturb courting, nesting, and feeding plovers, causing nests to fail. Our activities are endangering these small shorebirds. If you go to the beach in the spring and summer, you can avoid disturbing Piping Plovers if you know enough about them.

Avoid Nests

Piping Plovers nest at the top of the beach above the high water mark, in areas where there is little vegetation. The nest is not elaborate—just a shallow depression in the sand—and the eggs blend in with the sand so well that they’re practically invisible. To avoid inadvertently stepping on a Piping Plover nest, visit at low tide and walk lower down on the beach.

If you see an adult plover that appears wounded, dragging a wing, it is probably faking the injury and attempting to lure you away from a nearby nest. Don’t attempt to catch the bird, and leave the area as quickly and quietly as possible. If you are aware of a Piping Plover recovery project in the area, notify them of your suspicions of a nest and describe where it is.

Control Dogs

Dogs chase plovers and eat eggs and flightless chicks. Even if a dog doesn’t kill the chicks, it may alarm the parent birds so much that they desert their eggs or chicks. It’s preferable not to walk you dog on a beach where Piping Plovers may be nesting, but at the very least, keep your dog on a leash whenever you’re on the beach during the nesting season (late March through August).

Don't Fly Kites

Smaller birds mistake kites for birds of prey and either desert the nest or expend so much energy watching what they believe to be a predator that they can’t focus on feeding and resting. Fly your kite in the spring and summer, but do it well away from Piping Plover nesting areas.

Keep Your Distance

Piping plovers are easily disturbed – even someone hanging around trying to get a picture can prevent a plover from feeding and resting, putting the nest in danger. Piping Plovers are small and difficult to view or photograph without special equipment, but don’t try to get too close. If a Piping Plover is spending a lot of time watching you while you are watching it, you should leave so that the bird can go back to its own activities.

Vehicles

Vehicles driven on beaches alarm shorebirds, crush nests and run over Piping Plover chicks, which must travel from the nest to nearby mud flats to feed. Even if the wheels spare the birds, they leave deep ruts that imprison flightless chicks. Given the damage that vehicles do to the delicate ecology of beaches, and the threat they pose to all living things there, they should never be driven on beaches.

Litter

If you picnic on the beach, you may be tempted to leave food scraps behind for birds and other animals to eat. However, garbage, leftover food, and fish scraps left on beaches can attract animals that prey on Piping Plovers. If you picnic or fish on the beach, carry all your garbage away with you when you leave.

Many beaches where Piping Plovers nest have signs posted to alert human visitors to the presence of the birds. If you are visiting during the breeding season and you see the signs, you know Piping Plovers are there. Be especially careful not to disturb them.

Sources:

The copyright of the article Don’t Disturb the Piping Plover in Birds is owned by Rosemary Drisdelle. Permission to republish Don’t Disturb the Piping Plover in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.