Endangered Piping Plovers
The endangered Piping Plover frequents Atlantic beaches but fares poorly against people and dogs in competition for the sand.
In the spring, a walk on the beach is a popular weekend activity in Nova Scotia (in Nova Scotia, you are never too far from the coast). In fact, a walk on the beach is popular any time of year if you're dressed for it, but spring and fall are probably the best times because the weather is nice but the beach is not too crowded by sunbathers and sandcastles.
Unfortunately, our spring walk on the beach can be a disaster for Piping Plovers, which nest on a number of the beautiful sandy beaches along the Atlantic coast. These beaches are often signposted so that people know the Piping Plovers are there, but not everyone sees the signs, and not everyone takes appropriate care, even when they do see them.
Perhaps they don't believe that the endangered Piping Plover is there. I know they are there, but I've never seen one on the beach - both the adult bird and the sand coloured eggs blend in with the beach sand so perfectly that one could step on a nest without ever realizing. I've read that one way of identifying a Piping Plover is by the degree of difficulty you are having seeing it: if you can see it, in other words, it's probably not a Piping Plover.
About a tenth of the Piping Plovers left in the world nest in the Canadian Maritimes. The rest nest on Atlantic beaches in the United States, and on salt flats in both Canadian and American prairies. The nests are usually on the top third of the beach, above the high tide mark - exactly where we might walk if we were visiting the beach when the tide was high. And if we bring our dog for a run, that too could be deadly for the nest, or for newly hatched baby birds. So many dogs and their people love to go to the beach. No wonder the birds are declining.
View a slide show of the Piping Plover
More about Piping Plovers:
