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Piping plovers are divided into 3 sub-species in North America: Great Lakes, Northern Great Plains, and the Atlantic Coast populations. All three populations winter in the Gulf Coast, South Atlantic, and Caribbean beaches. In 1986, the piping plover were first listed on the United States Fish & Wildlife Service (USF&WS) Endangered Species Act as Threatened and Endangered. Currently, the Atlantic Coast and Northern Great Plains populations are listed as Threatened by the USF&WS, and The Great Lakes population is listed as Endangered. Plovers typically nest on coastal beaches, estuaries, mud flats, etc. Typically, they lay between 3-4 eggs in shallowed out areas not far from feeding areas. Adults share the responsibility on incubating the eggs and are very territorial with other plovers near nesting areas, as well as other birds and animals. Parents are often seen acting like they have a broken wing while protecting their nest from predators. Once hatched, chicks typically take about 25-27 days to fledge (fly). Note: this is just a quick summary of the piping plover. For more detailed information, please visit the piping plover facts page on the USF&WS website or contact the local USF&WS officer.
Where are the plovers at Quonnie?: As of June 3rd, 2006, there are now 6 nesting pairs on the Quonnie Barrier Beach after 4 nest were predated around May 30th. The following contains the PVC location of a nesting pair, the current nest egg count, and estimated hatch date/predated nest: PVC32 nest predated and re nested in Overwash area, 4-egg, Hatch Est. July 1st; PVC1.75, 3-egg, Hatched, chicks 1 day old; PVC98, 4-egg, Hatch Est. any day; PVC85.5, 4-egg, predated nest; PVC81, 3-egg, predated; PVC89, 4-egg, Hatch Est. June 13th; Between 1st and 2nd path to beach before PVC poles, 3-egg, Hatch est. predated; PVC16 nest over washed May 15th, re nested on May 23rd, 3-egg, Hatch Est. June 18th; PVC93.5, 4-egg, Hatch Est. June 12th.
PVC Numbering on Quonnie::The PVC numbering system starts at the beginning of the sand trail with number 79. Then about every hundred yards is an ascending odd numbered PVC pipe until about halfway down the beach ending at number 100. There, the PVC starts with 1 ascending to about 30 near RIMS Beach Property. PVC50 is located on the beach between the guard shack and the first parking lot. The current washed out area before out property will be named just that, "washed out area". |
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