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Within the U.S the Piping Plover is found along the Atlantic Coast in such states as Florida, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New England, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Outside of the U.S, the Plover can be mainly found along the Atlantic coast of Canada, and in some of the British Caribbean Islands.

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Raleigh Ecological Services Field Office

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Web site of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

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Piping Plover - Charadrius melodus - NatureWorks

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The piping plover is a small, sparrow-sized shorebird. It is about five to seven inches in length. It is a sandy brown-gray on its back and white on its underside. It has a black or brown neck band; a black tip on its tail; white eyebrows; a black band across its forehead; yellow-orange legs and feet; and a small, stubby orange bill with a black tip.

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Named for its melodic mating call, the piping plover (Charadrius melodus) is a small shorebird, one of several plovers in the Americas that shows a single black neck-band in breeding plumage. Its combination of a short and stout bill, pale upperparts and orange legs are key to its identification.

Because they need a very specific habitat to thrive, piping plovers are an indicator species for barrier beaches. How much piping plovers do or do not attempt to nest in an area reveals changes in the habitat over time, which could impact additional nesting species like sea turtles and other shorebirds.

Diet

Piping plovers eat freshwater and marine invertebrates that have been washed up on shore, as well as other invertebrates. This may include marine worms, insects (fly larvae and beetles), crustaceans, mollusks and other small marine animals and their eggs.

Population

As of 2001, it is estimated that there are no more than 3,000 breeding pairs of piping plovers across the U.S. and Canada.

Habitat & Range

Piping plovers breed mostly along the Atlantic coast, from North Carolina northward to eastern Canada and the French Islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon. A second population breeds inland along rivers and wetlands of the northern Great Plains, from Nebraska to the southern Prairie Provinces, as well as portions of the western Great Lakes in the U.S. and western Ontario. During winter months, most individuals occur on coastal beaches, sandflats and mudflats from the Carolinas to Mexico's Yucatan, with a very few dispersed through the Bahamas and West Indies.

Behavior

Because their inconspicuous sand-colored plumage makes them more difficult to see on the ground than if they flew and exposed their bright white underbody, when they move, piping plovers often walk or run rather than fly. Prior to breeding and at the beginning of courtship, males perform an elaborate flight display over breeding territories in order to advertise their availability to females. The males use deep, slow wingbeats and an alternating tilting of the body from side to side that produces a fluttering flight, making the bird more conspicuous than in normal flight.

Reproduction

Some piping plovers may breed the first spring after they hatch. Some birds do not obtain a mate each year, but most piping plovers breed every year.

Mating Season: Birds arrive on breeding sites in early spring. Nesting and egg-laying begin in late April and early May, with young fledged by late August or very early September.
Incubation: Both sexes incubate the eggs for around 28 days.
Clutch Size: Generally 3 to 4 eggs, but rarely as many as 5 eggs per nest.

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Named for its melodic mating call, the piping plover (Charadrius melodus) is a small shorebird, one of several plovers in the Americas that shows a single black neck-band in breeding plumage. Its combination of a short and stout bill, pale upperparts and orange legs are key to its identification.

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Distribution | Piping Plover | TPCP | SNR | UNL Affiliate

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The Northern Great Plains population nests on river sandbars, alkali wetlands, sandpits, and reservoir beaches in the interior of North America. Their breeding range stretches from Alberta to Ontario and south along major river systems to Nebraska. The Great Lakes population includes plovers nesting on several Great Lakes beaches in northern Michigan and Wisconsin.

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Piping Plover Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

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Little round Piping Plovers hide in plain sight on sandy ocean and lake shores, blending right in with their sandy gray backs. It's not until they scurry down the sand on their orange legs that you're likely to spot these big-eyed shorebirds with a sharp black collar and an orange bill.

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That's all the questions we have for you today. Do you have anything else with us to share?

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That's all the questions we have for you today. Do you have anything else with us to share?

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Tomatoes.

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Apparently, we control insect and crustacean populations or something. We also rid beaches of pests which helps the economy for humans which humans seem to like.

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Are you aware that you are in a school project?

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Are you aware that you are in a school project?

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What's a school?

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Is it true that you let your young find food for themselves?

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Is it true that you let your young find food for themselves?

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Yeah. They are going to have to do it eventually.

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If you had young, how would you protect them from predators?

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If you had young, how would you protect them from predators?

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Either pretend that I have a broken wing to lure the predator away or lecture them about quantum mechanics.

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What I meant was are there any ways we can help your species get off the endangered list?

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What I meant was are there any ways we can help your species get off the endangered list?

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Well, I suppose we could declare war on humans but that might not be a good idea. Maybe if we create more regulations and decrease human activity along shorelines, we would probably be much happier.

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Yes, may I have some pizza?

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Could you tell me your latin and common name?

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Could you tell me your latin and common name?

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That's oddly specific but alright. My latin name is Charadrius melodous and my common name is Piping Plover.

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Four thousand. Was that what you were thinking?

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We have a mournful peep-lo whistle. Not going to lie, it can get pretty annoying at times.

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The same reason I don't have friends. It's because of you humans. Their widespread development has spread to our shores which as you know are the places we live in. Also maybe beach erosion.

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Marine worms, insects, mollusks, pizza rolls, and other small marine animals. And maybe their eggs too.

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Yes. By the end of it, I wasn't feeling so good.

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I would love to say I live in a apartment but that just hasn't happened yet. I live along the beaches of the Atlantic Coast. My favorite place to go is North Carolina. It's a pleasant place. (Sort of)

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The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

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(That is literally the same question you asked a few panels ago) While both sexes of Plovers are similar as far as color and size, I can tell you that adults typically weigh about 2 ounces and our wingspread is an ASTOUNDING 15 inches.

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Are you affiliated with that wood stork?

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Are you affiliated with that wood stork?

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Why would I hang out with that idiot?

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Well, we have very round heads and big black eyes as well as having really short beaks. We are also short for some reason. Honestly, we aren't even that hard to spot.

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That's a weird question but whatever. Chordate.

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I don't have any friends but here is a picture I stole from the internet.

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I guess I'm a Piping Plover.