Piping plover  (Charadrius melodus)

Uncontrolled hunting brought the plovers close to extinction in the early 1900s, but the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 1918 prohibited hunting and helped the population recover by the 1930s. However, by 1945, Atlantic coast beaches became very popular for recreation, which has been the main cause of the plover population decline since. The building of homes and resorts along shorelines, the dumping of sand on beaches, and the polluting of inlets has altered and destroyed plover breeding and feeding ground (5). Human presence disrupts territorial establishment, courtship, egg-laying, and incubation activities (4). Many nests, eggs and chicks are destroyed by foot traffic and vehicles driving along the coastal beaches, and the raking of beaches for rubbish (7). Ruts left by off-road vehicles can also trap flightless chicks (4). Additionally, potential predators of plover eggs and chicks, such as non-native dogs and cats and native crows, foxes, and raccoons, are often attracted to beaches by human garbage (5). In the Great Plains region, damming of rivers has also eliminated sandbar nesting habitat (4).

Censuses conducted in 1991, 1996 and 2001 have helped strictly monitor piper plover populations, and a further survey is scheduled for 2006 (3). The US Fish and Wildlife Service developed a recovery plan for the species after it was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Residential and industrial development has since been restricted at plover breeding sites, as has vehicle and pedestrian access. Garbage disposal has been made illegal and free-roaming dogs and cats have been restricted from beaches during the nesting season. Wire fencing has also been erected around plover nests in some areas to protect them from predators and limit disturbance (5). However, measures to protect breeding and wintering beaches are costly and have had mixed success, with $3 million a year being spent in Atlantic USA alone, which will need to be maintained indefinitely (3). In order to help save this bird we must first learn how to effectively protect the threatened ecosystem upon which it depends (5), and public information campaigns over the plight of the piping plover and its beach habitat will undoubtedly need to play a vital part in this recovery process (8).