Piping Plover :: essays papers

Piping Plover Background Information Piping plovers are small shorebirds that usually lives on sandy beach and is considered to be endangered. It has a pale color that blend perfectly with dry beach sand. During the spring and summer, it appears to have a single black neckband and a narrow black band across its forehead. The plover’s bills and legs are yellowish but their bills have a black tip. During their flight its rump is white in color. The sexes appear similar, in both their size and color. During the winter, their legs and bill gets darker. Piping plovers are seen in small flocks or singularly. Food Piping plover eats insects, marine worms, mollusks, or small crustaceans. Habitat and nesting place During the warm season (summer), piping plovers usually lives and nest on the sandy beaches, shores of the Great Lakes, major rivers, or the prairies. They usually breed on dry sandy beaches and in the winter, they settle along the shores of southeastern United States. The piping plover usually nests on the sandy beach, some distance away from the water and is often located near a large rock or clump of grass. There are usually 4 eggs in the nest. The eggs begin to hatch for 25 to 30 days. Why are they endangered? Piping Plovers are endangered because of habitat loss and degradation. Homes and roads are being built onto their habitat. Off-road vehicles run over and destroy their nest. As a result, their habitat is being destroyed, leaving them with no place to live and to nest their young. They are also being disturbed by human activities near their habitat. Some people even step on their nest and bringing pets that kill the chicks and destroy the eggs. As these things kept on happening, their population started to decrease. When did it get on the list? The United States Fish and Wildlife Service listed the piping plovers as endangered in 1985. Recovery Plans Some of the plans that protected the piping plover were the closing of beaches, and making public announcements. Several beaches were reserved for these birds, including some of the coastal beaches in Massachusetts. This helped the piping plover from being disturbed and from loosing their habitat. As a result their survival rate and reproduction increased. Another plan was making public announcements to alert people about the extinction of piping plovers. This made people to be more careful when they see one and not to disturb them.