Charadrius melodus

A small plover; wings approximately 117 mm; tail 51 mm; weight 46-64 g (average 55 g); length averages about 17-18 cm (NGS 1983).

ADULT MALE: Forehead, sides of head (including lores, underparts and collar around hindneck) plain white with a dark band across the front of the crown from eye-to-eye and black shoulder patches that often extend across the breast. Inland birds have more complete breast band than Atlantic coast birds. Nonbreeding birds lose the dark bands. Upper parts pale gray-brown, lightest on the rump and upper tail-coverts; primaries dusky-black at tips, the inner webs largely white, and all but the outer two or three more or less white on outer webs; secondaries largely white; greater wing-coverts tipped with white; axillaries and lining of wing white; tail white at base with the features darkening towards the end and tipped with white; outer retrices mostly white. Bill dull orange, tipped with black; all dark in winter. Legs and feet orange-yellow; iris dark brown; eyelids pale yellow (Bent 1929, Roberts 1955, Wilcox 1959, Dinsmore 1981). Immature plumage resembles adult nonbreeding plumage; juveniles acquire adult plumage the spring after they fledge.

VOCALIZATIONS: The call is a two-noted "peep-lo" with an organ-like sound (Robbins et al. 1983).

EGGS: creamy white and spotted; 25 x 32 mm.

The piping plover differs from the snowy plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) in having a thicker bill, generally paler upperparts, and orange rather than dark or grayish feet and legs. It is much paler than other plovers.

BREEDING: Sandy upper beaches, especially where scattered grass tufts are present, and sparsely vegetated shores and islands of shallow lakes, ponds, rivers, and impoundments. Nests may also be built on sandy open flats among shells or cobble behind foredunes (e.g., in Michigan and New Jersey) (Master, pers. comm.).

ATLANTIC COAST: breeds mainly on gently sloping foredunes and blow-out areas behind primary dunes of sandy coastal beaches, and on suitable dredge oil deposits (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1988). In Maine, piping plovers nest only on sandy beaches notably lacking in small or large stones (Vickery, pers. comm.).

GREAT LAKES: Breeds on sand and gravel shorelines, and behind foredune among cobble and sparse vegetation on islands (Powell and Cuthbert 1992). Lambert and Ratcliff (1979) found that the average beach used for nest habitat in Michigan was 37 meters wide and that the nests were located an average of 13 meters from the water's edge (14 meters from the first dune and 109 meters from the nearest tree line). They also found a preference for nesting near other water bodies (beach pools, lagoons, or cuts) that may provide additional food sources. In Minnesota Point (Duluth, Minnesota), the average ground cover was less than 5 percent, and plants were an average of 13 centimeters tall (Niemi and Davis 1979). Niemi and Davis (1979) found that less than 8 percent of the available beach habitat was suitable for piping plover nesting. At Pine and Curry Islands (Lake of the Woods, Minnesota), nest on a sandy island where vegetation rarely exceeds 1 meter in height (Cuthbert and Wiens 1982). Vegetation included Salix interior, Artemisia campestris, Lathyrus japonicus, Xanthium spp., Populus balsamifera, Polygonum spp., Oenothera spp., grasses, and sedges.

GREAT PLAINS: 60 percent of breeding birds use shorelines around small alkaline lakes, 18 percent use large reservoir beaches, 20 percent use river islands and adjacent sand pits, 2 percent use beaches on large lakes, and 0.4 percent use industrial pond shorelines (Haig and Plissner 1993). Suitable breeding habitats are wide beaches (> 20 meters) with highly clumped vegetation, having less than 5 percent overall vegetation cover and/or with extensive gravel (USFWS 1988).

Vegetation cover on nesting islands is generally less than 25 percent (USFWS 1988). Woody species encroachment is a problem at many alluvial island sites due to reduced flows (Hay and Lingle 1981; Lingle, pers. comm.). This is also a problem on saline wetland shorelines due to drawdown and irrigation pumping (Soine, pers. comm.).

NONBREEDING: Usually on ocean beaches or on sand or algal flats in protected bays (Haig 1992). Most abundant on expansive sandflats, sandy mudflats, and sandy beach in close proximity; usually in areas with high habitat heterogeneity. At Laguna Madre, Texas, Drake et al. (2001) found this species to be most abundant on algal flats in fall and spring, but used exposed sand flats more often in winter. See Nicholls and Baldasarre (1990) for further information on winter habitat associations in the southeastern U.S.

Defends territory during breeding season and at some winter sites. Nesting territory may or may not contain the foraging area. Home range during the breeding season generally is confined to the vicinity of the nest. If nest is destroyed, may change home range before renesting; in Manitoba, shifts of 3-100 kilometers have occurred (Haig and Oring 1988).

In the Great Plains, annual survivorship was 66 percent in adults, 60 percent in immatures; calculated that a 31 percent increase in chicks fledged per pair (to 1.2 chicks fledged per pair annually) was needed to stabilize the population (Root et al. 1992, Ryan et al. 1993). Data from Massachusetts indicate that mean annual productivity of one chick per pair will maintain a stationary population (Melvin et al. 1992).

Longevity records indicate that only 13 percent of females and 28 percent of the males lived to five years. Eleven years of age is probably the maximum age (Wilcox 1959).

In Duluth Harbor, nest within a Common Tern (STERNA HIRUNDO) colony and benefit from the terns' defense against ring-billed (LARUS DELAWARENSIS) and Herring Gulls (LARUS ARGENTATUS) (Niemi and Davis 1979). Great Plains populations are sometimes associated with Least Tern (STERNA ANTILLARUM) colonies (Faanes 1983, Hay and Lingle 1981; Dinan, pers. comm.). Most eastern sites also have Least Terns (Vickery, pers. comm.; L. Master, pers. comm.). Also have commensal relationship with American Avocets (RECURVIROSTRA AMERICANA) (Prindiville and Ryan 1984). Plovers nesting in areas used by avocets had a 62 percent nesting success, compared to a 29 percent success in areas without avocets. Once hatched, chick survival rates were similar, regardless of avocet presence.

NON-BREEDING: In Laguna Madre, Texas, non-breeding home ranges were larger in winter than in fall or spring; overall mean was 12.6 +/- 3.3 square kilometers (n=48, Drake et al. 2001). Mean linear distance moved was 1.9 +/-0.4 km in fall (n=13), 4.2 +/- 0.6 km in winter (n=14), and 3.6 +/- 0.6 km in spring (n=19).

The breeding season begins when the adults reach the breeding grounds in mid- to late-April or in mid-May in northern parts of the range. The adult males arrive earliest, select beach habitats, and defend established territories against other males (Hull 1981). When adult females arrive at the breeding grounds several weeks later, the males conduct elaborate courtship rituals including aerial displays of circles and figure eights, whistling song, posturing with spread tail and wings, and rapid drumming of feet (Bent 1929, Hull 1981).

Often returns to the same nesting area in consecutive years (but few return to natal sites). Sometimes shifts breeding location by up to several hundred kilometers between consecutive years. Wilcox (1959) has shown that only 20 percent settle at a nest site farther than 1,000 feet from the previous year's locality. Adult females tend to choose new nest sites within the same geographic area with over 50 percent choosing a new nest site over 1,000 feet from the previous year. Previous reproductive success apparently does not increase the probability of returning to specific breeding sites (see USFWS 1994). In Manitoba, adults that experienced nest failure the previous year usually changed general nesting location (Haig and Oring 1988).

Generally monogamous during a single breeding season. Adults tend to pick new mates each year (Wilcox 1959). In southern Manitoba, most breeders changed mates in subsequent years (but hatching success was lower than for birds that retained mates; some birds changed mates within breeding season after nest destruction [Haig and Oring 1988]).

Nest sites are simple depressions or scrapes in the sand (Bent 1929, Wilcox 1959). The average nest is about 6 to 8 cm in diameter, and is often lined with pebbles, shells, or drift wood to enhance the camouflage effect. Males make the scrapes and may construct additional (unused) nests in their territories, which may be used to deceive predators or may simply reflect over-zealousness (Wilcox 1959, Hull 1981). Occupied nests are generally 50 to 100 meters apart (Wilcox 1959, Cairns 1977, Niemi and Davis 1979, Cuthbert and Wiens 1982).

Egg-laying commences soon after mating (Cuthbert and Wiens 1982, Hull 1981). Eggs are laid every second day. The average clutch size is four eggs (Wilcox 1959) and 3-egg clutches occur most commonly in replacement clutches. The average number of young fledged per nesting pair usually is two or fewer. The young hatch about 27 to 31 days after egg laying, and incubation is shared by both adults (Wilcox 1959, Hull 1981).

Young leave the nest about two hours after hatching and are capable of running and swimming. The young remain within about 200 meters of the nest, although they do not return after hatching (Wilcox 1959, Hull 1981, Johnsgard 1979). When disturbed or threatened, the young either freeze or combine short runs with freezing and blend very effectively into their surroundings (Wilcox 1959, Hull 1981). The adults will feign injury to draw intruders away from the nest or young (Wilcox 1959, Bent 1929). Adults also defend the nest territory against other adult piping plovers, gulls, and song birds (Wilcox 1959, Matteson 1980). First (unsustained) flight has been observed at around 18 days, with chicks molting into first juvenile plumage by day 22 (Zickefoose, pers. comm.).

Nest success depends heavily upon camouflage (Hull 1981). Hatching success ranges widely: 91 percent for undisturbed beaches on Long Island (Wilcox 1959), 76 percent for undisturbed beaches in Nova Scotia (Cairns 1977), 44 percent on relatively undisturbed beaches at Lake of the Woods (Cuthbert and Wiens 1982), and 30 percent maximum at disturbed Michigan beaches (Lambert and Ratcliff 1979). Will renest if first clutch is lost. Never raised more than one brood per season in southern Manitoba.