Piping plover population prospers thanks to efforts of Central Michigan University

For decades, students and faculty at Central Michigan University have been contributing to a wide ranging and multi agency recovery effort for the piping plover. This summer has shown the benefits this work has created for the bird species.

In the Great Lakes region, 80 breeding pairs of piping plovers have produced more than 100 chicks from 85 nests. It is the highest number of breeding pairs of the bird in nearly 40 years, according to Derek Hartline in an article posted on CMU’s website. Hartline is a graduate student at Central Michigan University and a conservation officer for the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. 

Hartline was tasked with taking part in the monitoring of the progress of seven of the plover nests on High Island which is located in the Beaver Island Archipelago just west of Beaver Island. Two years ago, the island saw only three nests, less than half of the population of nests this year, and in 2020, the island housed only one nest.

Hartline was quoted on the activity taking place on the island, saying, “High Island just became a hot spot this year.”

He credits much of this activity to the implementation of a recovery plan for the region that was supported by a range of different organizations. The tribe for whom Hartline works was one of them. He also conducts monitoring of the coast through the laboratory of the biology faculty Donald Uzarski.

Of the seven nests on High Island, six of them produced as many as 19 viable chicks. Seventeen of those cheeks have already developed their flying feathers, according to Hartline. Two chicks on the island are also nearing that stage, as well, and could see their flying feathers come in in the coming weeks, which would bring the total number of piping plovers born and raised in the wild to nine. 

Hartline noted that other chicks needed assistance. A falcon killed three nests worth of adults, leaving 12 eggs with no birds to attend to them. Those eggs were then transported to a lab in Pellston where 10 of them hatched into chicks, all of whom survived. Those birds were finally released into the wild, most in Michigan, while four were taken to New York to be released there.

Central Michigan University’s infrastructure plays a role in the plover repopulation project, as well. One of the university’s faculty members from the biology department, Nancy Seefelt, recently visited High Island in May as the Beaver Island Birding Festival was taking place. Members of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians had also noted sightings of nesting plovers.

Seefelt has spent the past two decades and more monitoring piping plovers in the archipelago. At first, she was spending her time on Beaver Island researching other waterbirds at the CMU Biological Station there when she was invited to help with the recovery of the plovers. The Biological Station had a small fleet of boats that were useful when it came to observing local plovers on the other islands in the archipelago.

She noted that High Island is not always a popular spot for nesting plovers, with some years seeing no birds nesting there.

As the lake levels change around the island and the surrounding archipelago, it has not been predictable to tell where plovers will nest according to Seefelt. It is also not the easiest task to spot the nests of piping plovers as they use the surrounding plant cover to camouflage their nests.

Piping plovers have a natural coloration that allows them to blend into the rocks and sand of beaches in order to conceal themselves from predators, according to Benjamin VanDyke, who wrote his master’s thesis on the role of human management of vegetation plants in the recovery of piping plovers.

It also appears that the birds do just as well on beaches where vegetation is managed by man as they do in places where it is not. That indicates that non native plant management might be able to take place without hindering the recovery of the plover, according to VanDyke.

VanDyke also noted that the plovers are designed to blend into the sandy substrate of beaches. He graduated from Central Michigan University with his master’s degree in biology this May, and is now employed as the preserve and volunteer steward for The Little Forks Conservancy in Midland. Seefelt was his adviser during his time in graduate school.

The ability to camouflage themselves against the sand and rocks of the beach without cover during the summer months makes it a very hearty species.

VanDyke noted that piping plovers are able to thrive in very harsh environments, and that the ability to conceal themselves likely played a big part in the population doing so well on High Island this year.

Hartline noted that part of the recovery plan is to cover the top of plover nests with enclosures. The falcon mentioned above seems to have investigated the enclosures that were placed on the plover nests before killing the three plovers on High Island, according to Hartline. Once the enclosures were removed, the predation on the birds stopped.

Hartline also noted that the piping plovers on High Island have already started their winter migration south. The females left for the south first, with the males expected to follow as soon as the chicks develop their flying feathers.

Both the chicks raised totally in the wild and those raised at the Pellston facility were banded which will allow for scientists to track their location over the winter. One of the males who was previously banded and lives on Beaver Island seems to have migrated in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area, according to Harline.

More information about Central Michigan University can be found on the school’s website.