Piping Plover (PIPL)
Charadrius melodus
Range
The Piping Plover breeds predominantly along the Atlantic coast, spanning from North Carolina to eastern Canada. It also breeds inland along rivers and wetlands in the northern Great Plains, extending from Nebraska to the southern Prairie Provinces. Populations can also be found along sections of the western Great Lakes and western Ontario.
During the winter, most individual Piping Plovers can be observed on coastal beaches, sandflats, and mudflats stretching from the Carolinas to Yucatan. Additionally, some disperse throughout the Bahamas and the West Indies region.
Additional Maps
Identification
Piping Plovers are round and stocky shorebirds known for their horizontal posture. They have a short orange bill with a black tip, a black crown stripe, a sandy gray back with pale upperparts, and a black neckband. Juveniles have a plain face, a stubby black bill, and orange legs.
Piping Plovers forage primarily on shorelines and mudflats, using their stout bill to probe for worms. They tend to forage alone or in small groups, staying slightly farther from the water’s edge. They are masters of camouflage, often hiding in soft sandy areas away from the water’s edge, sometimes crouching down in tire tracks or footprints.
During the breeding season, male Piping Plovers employ a distinct high-pitched piping call during flight to assert ownership and attract potential mates. When threatened, males respond with a series of rattling, throaty sounds, accompanied by head-bobbing motions that intensify with increasing agitation. Communication between male and female Piping Plovers, as well as with their young, primarily occurs through quiet and brief peeping sounds.
Habitat
During the breeding season, Piping Plovers select nesting habitats in two primary regions: ocean shores in the Northeast and lakeshores, rivers, and alkali wetlands in the northern Great Plains and Great Lakes. These habitats consist of sandy areas with sparse vegetation. In the northern Great Plains and Prairie Canada, Piping Plovers utilize a range of habitat types such as alkali lakes, reservoirs, rivers, freshwater lakes, dry alkali lakes, sandpits, industrial ponds, and gravel mines. In larger inland lakes and Atlantic beaches, they thrive in open sandy, gravelly, or cobble habitats near sand dunes. Along the Atlantic coast, they can be found in various locations such as barrier islands, ocean fronts, bays, sand bars, and tidal marshes.
In the winter, they forage on coastal beaches, sandflats, and mudflats that are exposed during low tide.
Conservation Status
- Listed as Near Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
- Listed as Threatened by Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks
- Listed as Endangered by Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
- Listed as Vulnerable by Nature Serve Explorer
- Listed as Endangered in New York and Threatened in Federal Status by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
- Listed as Moderately Vulnerable along the North Atlantic Coast, Mid-Atlantic Coast, and Northern Appalachians and Maritime Canada; Highly Vulnerable in Connecticut and Maine; Extremely Vulnerable in North and South America
- Listed as an Orange-Alert Species by Road to Recovery
Threats to Conservation
The major threats to the Piping Plover population include habitat loss, predation, and human disturbance. Habitat loss occurs as beaches are converted for residential and recreational use, and natural succession and vegetation regrowth reduce nesting habitat quality. Vegetation can hinder chick movement and lead to starvation. Rising sea levels, storms, and climate change further diminish available habitat. Human activities such as driving on beaches, beach management practices, and kite-flying disrupt nesting adults and chicks. Human presence also attracts nest predators like raccoons, crows, and rats.
Changes in river flows, channelization, and dam construction impact sandbar nesting habitat along the Missouri River. Wet cycles and encroachment of woody vegetation reduce nesting habitat availability. Predation by avian and mammalian predators, collisions with power lines and wind turbines, and oil and gas development further threaten the species.
Funding Opportunities
- America the Beautiful Challenge
- Community Forest Program
- Conservation Nation Grant Program
- Conservation Partners Legacy Grant Program
- Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)
- Gulf Coast Conservation Grants Program
- Land Trust Bird Conservation Initiative Small Grant Program
- Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant Program
- National Coastal Resilience Fund
- National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grants
- Natural Areas Research Grant
- Natural Legacy Program
- Nature Works
- Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act (NMBCA) Grant
- NOAA Office for Coastal Management: Funding Opportunities
- North American Wetlands Conservation
- Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Project Funding Resources
- NRCS Wetland Mitigation Banking Program
- Partners for Fish and Wildlife
- Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP)
- The Migratory Bird Program
- Tribal Wildlife Grants
- Wildlife Habitat Grant Program
- Wisconsin Forest Landowner Grant Program
General Management Guides
Regional Management Guides
- Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
- Long Island Sound Study: Piping Plovers
- New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
- New York Natural Heritage Program
- North Dakota Game and Fish Department
- Pennsylvania Game Commission
- Recovery Strategy for the Piping Plover in Canada
- Saskatchewan Prairie Conservation Action Plan
- Birds of Nebraska
- Illinois Department of Natural Resources
- Kansas Wildlife Action Plan
- Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
- Minnesota State Wildlife Action Plan
- North Dakota Fish and Wildlife Services
- North Dakota State Wildlife Action Plan
- Oklahoma City Audubon Society
- South Dakota Species Highlight
- South Dakota State Wildlife Action Plan
- Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
- Wisconsin State Wildlife Action Plan
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund