Not for critique really, but I just wanted to share how I spent a good portion of my summer, babysitting Piping Plover chicks! There was a breeding program in Michigan and the released birds have started to nest again in the Great Lakes area. They picked a public beach (Wasaga Beach in Ontario, Lake Huron) which probably gets 10,000 visitors on a weekend, so they cordoned off the side by side nests and watched over them 24/7 for about 6 weeks. We educated the public about the birds and everyone seemed very receptive. Unfortunately we had hail storms this summer and it wiped out an entire nest in about one half hour (four chicks). The other nest hatched one week later (the night of the hail storm) and one was either born dead or was drowned from the hail. Of the three remaining only one made it. A bittersweet experience but one of the most rewarding things I have ever done.
The grand total in the Lake Huron area was four nests and three survived, but I am sure they will be back again next year. Just wanted to share this.
Very nice Lady Jackie,
I love this little guy; looks like a fuzzy little ball...a big congrats to you for dedicating the time and effort to such a worthy and noble cause...proud of you...:):cool:
thanks for sharing, jackie and thanks for all your efforts!! it's sad about the mortality rates. not much better down here last year when one hurricane washed away most all of the nests. for the snowies at least.
Hi Harold,
The real ID band is the silver one. The other ones were used to identify the beach they came from and each beach area selected their own colours. I guess they just kind of went a little crazy on the colours as this was the first time in about 35 years since they had had a nesting pair, let alone two nests at Wasaga!
A nest south of here (Sauble Beach, Lake Huron) had the same returning pair as last year, so things look better for these guys. Last year three lived, so I think the numbers will keep rising, very slowly though.
Piping Plover Chick
