Piping plover

Piping plover
Sauble Beach, Ontario, Canada
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Vulnerable  (NatureServe)[2]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Charadriidae
Genus:	Charadrius
Species:	C. melodus
Binomial name
Charadrius melodus Ord, 1824
Subspecies
C. m. circumcinctus C. m. melodus

The piping plover (Charadrius melodus) is a small sand-colored, sparrow-sized shorebird that nests and feeds along coastal sand and gravel beaches in North America. The adult has yellow-orange-red legs, a black band across the forehead from eye to eye, and a black stripe running along the breast line. This chest band is usually thicker in males during the breeding season, and it is the only reliable way to tell the sexes apart. The bird is difficult to see when it is standing still, as it blends well with open, sandy beach habitats. It typically runs in short, quick spurts and then stops.

There are two subspecies of piping plovers: the eastern population is known as Charadrius melodus melodus and the mid-west population is known as C. m. circumcinctus. The bird's name is derived from its plaintive bell-like whistles which are often heard before the bird is visible.

In 1986, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service listed the Great Lakes population as endangered and the Northern Great Plains and Atlantic populations as threatened.^[3] Intensive conservation efforts have yielded slow population growth, but only some populations have met the recovery goals set for them.^[4] The growth trend is expected to reverse if conservation efforts were stopped.^[5] Total population was estimated to be between 7600 and 8400 individuals in 2020.^[6]

Their breeding habitat includes beaches and sand flats on the Atlantic coast, the shores of the Great Lakes, and in the mid-west of Canada and the United States. They nest on sandy or gravel beaches or shoals.^[7] These shorebirds forage for food on beaches, usually by sight, moving across the beaches in short bursts. Generally, piping plovers will forage for food around the high tide wrack zone and along the water's edge. They eat mainly insects, marine worms, and crustaceans.