A small shorebird called the piping plover was added to the endangered species list in 1986, when there were only 17 pairs in the entire Great Lakes region, all of them in Michigan.
But the piping plover has had a resurgence, and now there are at least 88 nesting pairs across the Great Lakes region, including 11 pairs in Wisconsin, Jade Arneson, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, told WUWM.
“They did have roughly a couple decades-long gap where there were no Piping Plovers nesting within [Wisconsin],” Arneson said. “But then those populations started to come back and flourish.”
What is a piping plover?
The piping plover is a small bird that nests on beaches, ideally ones with gravel. That’s why the Lake Michigan and Lake Superior shorelines are so vital to the species.
There are small populations in the Great Lakes, Atlantic Coast and Great Plains regions of the United States, according to the National Park Service.
An adult piping plover is about 7 inches tall, and the birds hunt small bugs and often walk along the shoreline looking for insects to catch, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
What caused the piping plover population to shrink?
The birds make their nests along shorelines, and as shorelines disappear, so do spots for them to lay eggs. High water levels can be a problem, and so can shoreline development. However, development was a more significant problem before the 1980s, Arneson said. Now, there has been in increase in predators, including coyotes and merlin, a small falcon.
How has Wisconsin helped the piping plover?
The birds are starting to nest in Wisconsin. In 2012, a 272-acre section of the Cat Island Chain was rebuilt for the bird, and those efforts have started to pay off.
In 2016, Tom Prestby, Wisconsin conservation manager at Audubon Great Lakes, told the Green Bay Press Gazette that the birds would consider the area, but the water might be too high or lack acceptable shoreline to make a safe nest. One pair, though, did decide to nest and laid four eggs a decade ago.
While more piping plovers nest in Michigan, Wisconsin has at least 11 nesting pairs. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service still wants the piping plover population to grow. The agency hopes for 150 total pairs in the Great Lakes region, instead of the current 88, with more than 50 outside Michigan.
“We have a ways to go yet,” Arneson said.
How can I help piping plovers?
Eggs hatch in the early summer, so that is the time to be extra vigilant. The National Parks Service said to:
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How Wisconsin is helping the endangered piping plover make a comeback
Reporting by Blaise Mesa, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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