Piping Plover
Last Update/Review: June 17, 2002
Status | Description | Habits | Reproduction | Food | Limiting Factors | Management and Outlook
Status
In 1987, the piping plover was listed as "threatened" under the provincial Wildlife Act. On May 31, 2000, Alberta's Minister of Environment announced that this species' status was upgraded to "endangered." The limited amount of information known about these birds suggests that they occur rarely and locally within the province.
There are three distinct geographic locations where piping plovers breed in North America: the Great Lakes region, the northern Great Plains, and the Atlantic coast. Historically, the total population size has been erratic with a major decrease in the late 1800s and a general increase in the 1920s. In 1945, the population again began to decline and has never recovered. The most recent 1996 population surveys estimated 2000 pairs of piping plovers in North America of which about 700 are in Canada.
In 1978 the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) designated piping plovers as "threatened" in Canada. In response to the continued population decline, this designation was changed to "endangered" in 1985. Breeding populations in the Great Lakes region have decreased rapidly and have disappeared in the last 10 years. The population has also decreased in the Atlantic and prairie regions.
In Alberta, the population of piping plovers has been low but relatively stable. Because of the small population size, the potential for significant decline is high. Piping plovers breed locally along lakes and sloughs in the aspen parkland and northern fescue prairie in east-central Alberta. Most of the breeding birds are found near Provost, Hanna, and Medicine Hat. The historic breeding range of piping plovers extended as far north and west as Miquelon Lake, Beaverhill Lake, and Gull Lake, but there are no nesting records from these lakes since the mid-1970s.
For more information, check out the Status of the piping plover in Alberta report.
Description
Piping plovers are small, stocky shorebirds which look like a pale semi-palmated plover or a washed-out killdeer with only one chest stripe. The head, back, and wings of piping plovers are pale brown to grey and highlighted with black and white. The identifying field marks are a black stripe across the forehead from eye to eye, a long white eyestripe, and a single black neckband (in some birds the band is not complete across the breast). Their brown back is about the same colour as dry sand and piping plovers are extremely well camouflaged on sand or pebble beaches. The dark head and chest bands usually are absent on wintering birds. Adult males and females are similar in size and colour.
Habits
The habits of piping plovers are fairly well known. They are migratory shorebirds that use isolated beaches and sandflats in central and eastern North America. In Alberta, they prefer alkaline shorelines of prairie lakes and sloughs (those with heavy concentrations of mineral salts). The beaches in areas used by piping plovers are usually open and clear of vegetation.
Piping plovers are present in Alberta from late April to early August. Most of our birds probably winter in the southern and southeastern United States along the Gulf of Mexico, particularly coastal areas of Texas. Some birds also overwinter in Mexico and a few Caribbean islands. Piping plovers captured near Hanna have been observed in Texas, Florida, and Alabama.
Some piping plovers return to the same breeding area. The proportion of adult birds that return to the same nesting area may be high on the prairies because of the small amount of suitable habitat.
Breeding pairs are often clustered in suitable lakeshore habitat. In Alberta, at least 30 adult birds nested on one lake in 1989. Each pair defends a territory around the nest. The nest may be defended by direct attack or by "luring" the danger away.
Reproduction
In Alberta, piping plovers nest in bare areas of sand, small pebbles, or gravel. The nest is a small shallow pocket that the adults scrape out and usually line with small pebbles. The pebbles may keep the eggs away from wet sand and provide drainage after a rainstorm.
In May, the female usually lays four eggs that are cream-coloured with a few small dark spots. The dark spots help to camouflage the eggs among the pebbles lining the nest. Females lay one egg every other day and both adults take turns incubating the eggs for approximately 28 days. Sharing the incubation allows each bird time to catch and eat its own food. The young birds hatch in early June and can fly by mid-July. Most have left the nesting grounds by early August.
A breeding pair usually tries to renest if their nest is lost before mid-June. If the nest is lost after this time, the adults often abandon their territory. Late season renesting produces young birds which have to compete for food and space with thousands of shorebirds migrating south from the Arctic.
Food
Very little is known about the specific food habits of piping plovers in Alberta. They feed along the shoreline close to their nest. Adult birds are seen close to the water's edge most often in the morning and afternoon. They wander back and forth and seem to be eating small insects, and they occasionally take a few grasshoppers. Unlike some shorebirds, piping plovers do not probe deeply into the sand. Instead, they seem to pick their food from the surface as it is washed up or exposed by the water. Springs and groundwater seepage areas seem to be key sites for feeding, particularly in drought years.
Piping plovers are not as active as some other shorebirds. Compared to the hyper-active sandpipers, piping plovers look quite slow and methodical as they search for food.
In the wintering areas, piping plovers often feed on tidal sandflats away from the Gulf shore. As the tide goes out, the birds search for invertebrates on the wet sand.
Limiting Factors
Over much of their geographic range, piping plovers are in direct competition with people for open sand or pebble beaches, particularly in June and July when young birds are active. The birds cannot possibly compete. Increased recreational activities and development of eastern lakes and coastal areas have disturbed piping plovers on their prime nesting habitats. Human activity on a beach can result in adult birds being unable to start a nest or being forced to abandon their nest or young. In addition, the birds respond to disturbance by using distracting behavior to lure danger away from the nesting area. This response may leave the eggs or young unprotected for long periods of time.
In Alberta, only a few beaches used by piping plovers have been developed for recreation (for example Buffalo Lake, Little Fish Lake and, perhaps, Gull Lake). At other locations, the lakes are often isolated and the water too salty and shallow for development. However, disturbance of piping plovers by motorized off-highway vehicles remains a problem in these areas.
Agricultural development around lakes and sloughs has reduced the amount of habitat available for nesting piping plovers. Sloughs that are drained and cultivated are no longer suitable for any of the shorebird species. At some beaches, nests or young birds have been trampled and destroyed by cattle. Downy chicks may also have difficulty climbing out of the deep holes left by the heavy animals. Problems with livestock occur more often at locations where the salt content of the water and sand is lower.
Predation may also be a problem for piping plovers particularly in areas subject to human disturbance. Eggs and young birds are killed by a variety of predators including gulls, skunks, cats, dogs, raccoons, foxes and crows. Many of these predators are well-adapted to living with or close to people, and their numbers are increasing in the aspen parkland and northern prairie (the prime habitat for piping plovers). In some areas piping plovers are more successful when they nest near a colony of terns. Terns are very territorial and drive away any predators close to their nests.
Loss of habitat in wintering areas is an increasing problem for all piping plover populations. Wintering birds need beaches and sandflats, both of which are becoming less suitable in the Gulf states. Increasing agricultural, industrial, and urban activities cause a direct loss of beaches. Indirectly, these activities disrupt water patterns and result in sandflats unsuitable for piping plovers.
Management and Outlook
In the late 1980s, Alberta Forestry, Lands and Wildlife (now Alberta Sustainable Resource Development) funded surveys of the population of piping plovers and the habitat available to them in the province. Using this information, a Management Plan for piping plovers in Alberta was prepared. This plan reviews the biology, population status and distribution of piping plovers in Alberta, and outlines the variety of actions which will be implemented to maintain this species at viable levels.
Alberta also participates in the National piping plover Recovery Team. This team is coordinated by the Canadian Wildlife Service, and has established national goals and objectives necessary to maintain this species in Canada. The national population goal is to reach and maintain a population of at least 2670 adult piping plovers in Canada for at least 5 years. This will require an increase in the number of piping plovers throughout their range.
In Alberta, the Canadian Wildlife Service has put coloured bands on piping plovers in the Hanna region. This program provides information about movements and reproductive success of the marked birds. If you see a banded piping plover (or a marked bird of any species), the Natural Resources Service would appreciate receiving information about the sighting.
The outlook is good for piping plovers to maintain a low but steady breeding population in Alberta. The species is easily disturbed but adapts well to changing conditions (a natural requirement for species which nest and feed in an ever-changing habitat!). Adult birds may use modified natural or artificial areas. Methods of removing vegetation and dumping gravel on a saline lake to increase nesting habitat are being evaluated. These methods could be used on lakes and sloughs with low recreational or agricultural value.
The key to success in maintaining piping plovers in Alberta is to protect their nesting areas from disturbance. There is little we can do about the weather and water levels. However, we can protect the birds against human disturbance at critical times in their breeding season. The public must be made aware of the species' needs by posting signs near the breeding sites or placing notices in local newspapers. In extreme cases it may be necessary to prevent access by people (and their pets) on breeding beaches during the nesting season of piping plovers.
Cooperation among government agencies and an informed public will go a long way to protecting this vulnerable member of our natural community.
For further information on the piping plover, check out the Status of the piping plover in Alberta report, contact your local Fish and Wildlife Division office or write to:
Wildlife Management Branch
Fish and Wildlife Division
Alberta Sustainable Resource Development
9915 -108 Street
Edmonton, Alberta
T5K 2G8
