THE PIPING PLOVER

The piping Plover is a small migratory shorebird. Its habit includes Lakeshores, Rivers, Sandbars, and Ocean Coasts where it nests on sandy or gravelly beaches and feed at the waters edge.

The Piping Plover is a small stocky bird, the colour of dry white sand and resembling a sandpiper. The adult has a yellow orange legs, a black band across the forehead from eye to eye and a black ring around the base of it's neck. Like other Plovers it run in short starts and stops,

The Piping Plover has Atlantic, Great Lakes and Prairie populations. This small shorebird is currently struggling for survival. It's officially listed as an endangered species in Canada.

Piping Plovers return to their breeding grounds in later march or early April. The nests is sometimes lined with small stones or fragments of shells.The four eggs hatch in about 28 days. Within hours the downey young are following their parents for the marine worms, crustaceans and incests which they pluck from the sand.

A large part of declining of the Piping Plover is because of people intrude on . The nesting areas without caring. They use their a.t.v.'s and other vehicles. There natural predators include Racoons, Skunks, Foxes, Crows, Ravens, and Gulls.

The Piping Plover are known to nest on the South-west Coast of Newfoundland. Such areas of where they are found are at the Grandbay West Beach in Port-aux-Basque and the Cape Ray Beach.Each year there are more Piping Plovers returning here. The piping plover may live as long as 14 years, however most probably survive less than 5 years.

We can protect the Piping Plovers. People can respect all areas that are fenced and posted. We can stop the A.T.V's from the beaches where they nest and we can stop throwing trash around so the predators's would not see the plovers easily. By doing all this, we can help an Endangered species to survive.