LONG JOURNEY
‘Plucky plover’ survives perilous journey from North Rustico
“Plucky plover” survives perilous journey from North Rustico to the island of Bermuda.
The Royal Gazette news organization reports that an endangered bird has made its way to Bermuda from Prince Edward Island.
In a story published online on Sept. 14, the Royal Gazette says the piping plover was spotted by Bermuda Audubon Society president Andrew Dobson at Cooper’s Island on Sept. 10.
Dobson said that the small shorebird was fitted with a tiny plastic leg flag as a chick at North Rustico on Prince Edward Island on July 11.
Dobson told The Royal Gazette that although one or two piping plovers are recorded most years in Bermuda, this is thought to be the first record of a banded bird.
Three other chicks banded at Prince Edward Island on the same day have been seen this fall in Georgia, Maine and Florida, according to Dobson.
The species has a small population that has declined significantly since the 1950’s owing to habitat loss, disturbance and predators.
Piping plovers breed along ocean shores in the northeast Atlantic coast and along lakeshores and alkali wetlands in the northern Great Plains and Great Lakes.
There have been overall population increases since 1991 as a result of intensive conservation management, so the species is now listed as “near threatened”.
It is still dependent on intensive conservation efforts as the population is estimated at only 8,000 birds.
Eastern populations migrate south to spend the winter along the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico, southeast United States and the Caribbean.