Piping Plovers create excitement at Presqu'ile

Nature Notes for May 27, 2016

Warblers and Whimbrels festival last weekend at Presqu’ile Provincial Park provided some excitement for the birders attending. The excitement was being provided by neither warblers nor whimbrels, but by three Piping Plovers that were present on the beach. Most exciting of all, two of them seemed to be pairing up. The male was seen doing his courtship display and they were creating little scrapes which could become nests.

If this pair nests, it would be the first confirmed nesting of Piping Plovers at Presqu’ile in about 100 years. The last confirmed nest records for Piping Plover at Presqu’ile date from 1915 and 1916. There was no systematic recording of observations between then and 1952, so it is impossible to know when they stopped nesting there.

One of the Piping Plovers that is perhaps preparing to nest on the beach at Presqu'ile Provincial Park.

Photo © Rob Lonsberry Photography

 

Piping Plovers are a small shorebird, similar in size to the more common Semipalmated Plover. They are a paler colour than the Semipalmated, about the colour of dry sand. This makes them extremely difficult to see and provides some protection from predators.

These birds are in the same family as Killdeers, a species with which many readers may be more familiar. As the Killdeers do, Piping Plovers make their nests in shallow scrapes on the bare ground. Their eggs, as the Killdeers, resemble small stones.

Piping Plover young are precocial. That is, they are able to run around and find their own food as soon as they dry off after hatching. They are sometimes brooded and guarded by their parents, but are generally quite independent.

The Piping Plover is listed as “endangered” both federally and provincially. They nest on sand beaches. This means that they are in direct competition with humans for beaches. People like their beaches tidy, but the plovers need some sticks and piles of debris in which to hide from potential predators.

During the 1940s and 1950s, vehicles routinely drove onto the beach. In the 1960s, beach grooming began, so that probably ended any breeding, if they were still breeding. Since 2006, there has been at least one bird found on Presqu’ile’s beach nearly annually (10 of 11 years).

What are the threats, other than human feet, cars and pet dogs? These would include raccoons, skunks and avian predators such as crows and gulls.

Rob Lonsberry took the photo accompanying this article on May 24. This picture shows the coloured leg bands which allow the bird to be identified as one that hatched at Wasaga Beach in 2015.

Although Piping Plovers have not nested on the Ontario shores of the Great Lakes for many years, a small population has survived in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan. Many of the birds re-colonizing Ontario have originated from this population.

Piping Plovers returned to breed at Wasaga Beach Provincial Park in 2007, for the first time in 30 years. The Park roped off an exclosure and placed a predator deterrent cage over the nest. They also recruited an army of volunteers to guard the nest and educate the public about the plovers. A similar protocol will be observed at Presqu’ile if it is determined that the birds really are nesting.

In Canada, this species breeds in the Maritimes, in the Great Lakes basin, on Lake of the Woods and in several remote areas in Manitoba. It does not go as far south in winter as many shore birds. Piping Plovers winter mostly in the southern U.S., but some go a bit further to Mexico and the Caribbean islands.

If you go to Presqu’ile to see these birds, please respect the roped off area. Bring binoculars and/or a spotting scope so that you can enjoy this rare sight.