Greetings from the road everyone! Brad and Jan are still on assignment and Linda and I are sweating it out here in Kansas. I thought the CMAR race day was hot, but this is something else (link here). After a weeks of high 60F’s to mid 70Fs at home, we find ourselves in a heat index upwards of 107F. Definitely a good time to be on the short break from training. Even managed to stop by a couple of birding locations this morning and added two more species for the annual count bring the Average Year’s total to 298 (link here, not updated yet). A mere 2 short of the annual goal – a good thing as the birding has been weak in this latter half of the year. Are other birders noticing this downturn? There was a theory that our Cicada eruption pushed the migrators further north, but that has passed now and still little piping up to be heard.
Will be interesting to see how this plays out, but for now, let’s turn are attention to a feathered friend with plenty of piping.
Hit the jump to read more about our encounter with this diminutive bird heralding from North Dakota.
Oddly enough, I can’t remember the last time I was in North Dakota – it hasn’t been since I was a kid and Linda has never been there. Fortunately for us, the Piping Plover is also a Texan Snowbird. This species has a rather narrow breeding range that spans a vertical from Nebraska up into Canada in addition to a thin upper east coastal presence. There are a few isolated areas around the Great Lakes including one of our frequent birding spots Montrose Point in Chicago. You may remember the previous post on the celebrity couple Monty and Rose (link here).
I am not sure where Monty wintered, but Rose was found hanging out on Bolivar Flats in Texas. Interesting note, the pair would arrive back on the Chicago beach within a day of each other. Imagine pulling that off without a cell phone! Every winter since her Chicago arrival, I scanned the Bolivar Flats sand looking for her tell-tale markings. Zero luck with that. Monty has since passed and Rose has not been seen the last couple of years – can’t remember, but she may have passed as well. Their average life span is 5 to 6 years. With great joy, I am pleased to relay that their son Imani did return to Montrose, mated with another Great Lakes reared Plover and successfully fledged one of their 4 chicks. Time will tell if Montrose is imprinted on the two love birds and their new offspring enough to return next year.
Back to our Piping Plover specimen you are looking at here. This one was spotted on our visit to the South Padre Island Convention Center Flats back in January 2023. I have had mixed results with the smaller Plovers at this location. The tide always plays a role, of course, but even taking that into account, it is either feast or famine on these little dudes and dudettes. Part of the problem is having to pick them out among all the larger inhabitants – large Black Skimmer flocks (link here), Brown Pelicans, and a variety of Gulls and Peeps are prevalent across the sands. Finding a little Plover playing Frogger amongst all those legs can be a test of wills.
Definitely lucked out in early 2023 and spotted this Piping in its nonbreeding plumage. You probably noticed this one was sporting travel tags. Piping Plovers are on the conservation endangered watch list. According to Cornell, there are only 8400 breeding individuals globally. They state “In the Great Lakes region, they are listed as federally endangered and along the Atlantic Coast and Great Plains they are listed as federally threatened. They are on the Red Watch List for species that have restricted distributions and small, declining populations“. That is quite disheartening as these birds are incredibly cute and brings a hearty smile whenever we encounter them. As is typical with species on the endangered lists, they are a heavily banded lot. To be honest, I find it surprising when I get a photograph of one that doesn’t have a band (usually their banding process consists of multiple bands of varying colors). This specimen had a single color band with the 48F printed on it along with a silver federal band.
This is the first time I have seen such a large colored band on them. Typically, it is just a colored band without lettering. Maybe this is the tradeoff vs having multiple bands on each leg. Federal bands are much harder to read as the numbers go around the entire band. Better read with it in hand as getting all the required angles in pictures is rather difficult. The bird banding submission process typically only needs the color tagging to identify it.
And identify it did! Submitted the 48F tag to the US Bird Banding site and they returned the following verification. Originally tagged in North Dakota as a chick back in June 2017. That puts it just under 6 years old.
Unable to determine the sex as Piping Plover nonbreeding adults look the same. During the breeding cycle, the males will develop a black crown, solid black neck band and the base of their bills will take on an orange hue. Have to say, even cuter than in their winter clothing.
Out in the field, I am always scanning for those short blunted bills that give the Plovers away. Once spotted the ID immediately shifts to the legs. Those bright orange legs are the quickest way to get to the Piping designation.
IDing them can be relatively easy, getting them in the tin is not. These little guys and gals are movers. Much like the larger Sanderlings (link here), the Piping Plovers are spastic on the sand. In the nonbreeding season it is just a matter of “there’s a Squirrel” hunting methodology. Don’t bother trying to predict where they’ll end up for the perfect shot, the likelihood it ends up anywhere in the direction it is currently sprinting is slightly higher than Raygun’s score during the recent Olympic Breakdancing event. During the breeding season it is a combination of feeding and defending that causes their erratic behavior. They are ferocious defenders of their territory. Step a foot on their turf and prepare for all out war. Must be a form of stature compensation. Like our little Poodles, they are fearless in the face of larger adversaries. This played out while Ron and I were watching Monty guarding their chicks on the Chicago dunes. Killdeer, Gulls, Pipers.. it didn’t matter, if Monty spotted them even looking at him or his offspring he’d attack culminating in pecking or biting should the intruder fail to “Respect his authoritaaay” (link here).
I have to admit, it wasn’t until I recently looked it up for this post that I learned the true reason the Piping Plovers are thus named. In the past I assumed it was the black “piping” around their neck during the breeding season. “Sorry, that is incorrect” (read in your best game show host voice). According to the Internet search, the Piping is in reference to their “bell-like whistled peeps” they use as a means of communication. Unable to validate that as I have never heard a single peep out of them.
Although Piping Plovers are able to blend into their environment quite easily thanks to their sand matched feather coloring, they sure don’t do themselves any favors with their nesting behavior. No elaborate condo for their young. The male will choose an area and proceed to scratch out depressions in the sand in the 4″ by .5″ deep range. A multi-day process is then initiated to select the best “scrape” to use as their official nest. They will proceed to adorn it with pebbles and such in order to appease any in-laws that might stop by for a visit. On average they will have 4 eggs each laid on successive days. 28 days later and out pops melt your heart featherballs with adult sized legs.
Actually, getting one of those Plover chicks in the tin is in my top 10 hunt list, but there are plenty of images on the web if you want see what they look like. If you do come upon one, keep your distance unless you want to have a long, uncomfortable talk with the DNR…that is if you survive the onslaught from a pissed off parent.
Thought I would leave you with a quick size reference. If you happen to be familiar with the size of its more accessible brother the Black-Bellied Plover, this shot will show you how much smaller the Piping variety is (and the Black is standing a ways behind the Piping).
Will put a Plover bow on it there. Need to get some shuteye before we start the long trek home. Let’s hope these hot Kansas temps don’t follow us back.
Life Intrigued 