Piping Plover Guardian

In the winter while doing some research I stumbled across info on the piping plover. It looks like they used to be around Ontario in large numbers but then all of a sudden they were all gone. The reason seems to be that they nest on our popular sandy beaches with hardly any cover which makes it really easy for foxes, raccoons, dogs and yes people to find and disturb this bird. They are currently global threatened and endangered and sightings are extremely rare.

So after thirty some odd years all of a sudden a breeding pair made their way back into Ontario in 2007 and set up a nest. This got the ball rolling for some intense assistance. A barrier was set up around the nesting area to keep the people at a distance, which would give the birds their space. Then an exclosure was erected directly over the nest, which allows the birds to get through, but keeps the predators out. A volunteer based monitoring program was also set up to keep an eye on these birds and to mediate between the plovers and the people using the beach. There has been successful breeding every year since and not just from that pair and now the piping plovers are back again.

I really like the idea of helping this species get back on its feet again since human interaction has a huge part to play on their disappearance from Ontario. So I contacted the coordinators of the program and offered up some of my time. I wanted to see this bird and I couldn’t think of a better way to do so. So I made my way up there this morning.

Once at the location I got to see two pairs and possibly one more male. One pair put on quite a show not that far away from us. It was so neat to see their courtship dance. The male quickly made a scrape in the sand, which the female quickly came to check out. While she was inspecting it he then displayed his feathers for her and then he stood up tall and proudly proceeded to do what looked like the can-can. I wish I could do the can-can with that much confidence around the ladies. Then it was business time. Hopefully that means one more breeding pair. We also got to see two merlins fly by which was very excited to see but means more struggles for these birds. One year a merlin took one of the adult males and another year one took one of the chicks. Hopefully this year they keep their distance. Time will tell.

So to sum up it was so neat to see a new bird and very nice to be able to help out. I was really impressed at what the volunteers have done so far and I am looking forward to going back again to help out some more.