Piping Plover

Wintering piping plovers use a variety of habitats and move among these patches in response to local weather and tidal conditions. Coastal habitats include sand spits, small islands, tidal flats, shoals and sandbars with inlets. Primary foraging habitats include sandy mud flats, ephemeral pools and seasonally emergent seagrass beds with abundant invertebrates, as documented in the draft recovery plan of 2015. In the Northern Great Plains, piping plovers nest on the unvegetated shorelines of alkaline lakes, reservoirs, or river sandbars, as documented in the 2009 field season summary report. 

Piping plovers forage by gleaning invertebrates from substrate, with their prey base varying among locations across the Northern Great Plains, as documented by E. Elliott-Smith and S.M. Haig in 2004. Forage has been described as various macroinvertebrates, with fecal evidence suggesting that the birds select prey at roughly the same rate as its availability, as documented by F. Shaffer and P. Laporte in 1994, although a study of fecal material on the Northern Great Plains suggests that birds selected for less abundant beetles (Coleoptera) over that of flies (Diptera), as noted by D. Le Fer in 2006.

Piping plovers appear to be low-density migrants throughout the midcontinent and are often observed singly, or in small groups, that use sites opportunistically, meaning that they do not have regularly-used stopover sites, as documented by V.D. Pompei and F.J. Cuthbert.

Piping plovers are small birds approximately 7 inches (17 centimeters) long with a wingspan of 15 inches (38 centimeters).

Piping plovers weigh between 1.4 to 2.3 ounces (40 to 65 grams).

Piping plovers are sandy grayish brown in color and have white underparts, as described by Cornell University in 2019. Adult breeding plumage includes a single black breast band, which is often incomplete, and a black bar across the forehead. During the late summer or early fall, the black bands fade to gray, leg color fades from orange to pale yellow and the orange-and-black bill turns to mostly black. Juveniles, from July through September, look similar to non-breeding adults, as noted by D.A. Sibley in 2016. Most adults begin a molt into breeding plumage before initiating the northward migration and complete the molt before arriving at breeding sites, as noted in the draft revised recovery plan in 2015.

The piping plover has a melodic call.

Although piping plovers have been documented to live as long as 11 years, we estimate that with a 78 to 80% adult survival rate, the average life span is approximately five to six years, so most individuals will survive to breed in the next year if there is limited available habitat one year, as documented by L. Wilcox in 1959, as well as by J.B. Cohen and C. Gratto-Trevor in 2011 and D.H. Catlin and others.

Piping plovers start arriving on breeding grounds in early April, followed by courtship and nesting in mid-to-late April, as documented by D.H. Catlin and J.D. Fraser in 2006 and was later confirmed by others. Male plovers create a shallow depression on the ground which both adults line with small pebbles. Incubation lasts 25 to 28 days and is shared between the sexes, as Wilcox documented in 1959 and later W.E. Cairns, in 1982 and E. Elliott-Smith and S.M. Haig reconfirmed in 2004. Eggs hatch between late May and early June. Young leave the nest within hours and begin foraging immediately. Fledging occurs 25 to 35 days after hatching, as documented by J.M. Knetter and others in 2001 and later by D.H. Catlin and others in 2013. Piping plovers leave breeding grounds as early as mid-July and generally raise one brood a season, but may raise two broods under rare conditions, as documented by E. Elliott-Smith and S.M. Haig in 2004.