Endangered Piping Plover Birds Spotted in Duluth
Conservationists are excited to have found two endangered piping plover (http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/piping_plover/id) birds hanging around Park Point beach in Duluth, Minnesota. The bird is considered very rare with only 70 known nesting pairs throughout Canada, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
Endangered Piping Plovers Not Seen in Duluth for Over 30 Years
The pair of endangered piping plovers was first spotted by the conservation group St. Louis River Alliance (http://www.stlouisriver.org/) on May 5 and they are still apparently hanging around. The group hopes that the two birds find mates and decide to nest in the area.
The city of Duluth and the St. Louis River Alliance are asking the public to…show more content… The endangered piping plover has a beige to sand colored back with a white underside. Both sexes have a distinctive black band over the forehead that spans from eye to eye, with another black to brown band around the neck. They have orange, fairly long legs and an orange, black-tipped beak. The black to brown band around the neck is darker and larger during breeding season in males, and is one of the only ways to distinguish male from female.
The natural habitat of the endangered piping plover is along sandy or gravel beaches and sand flats along the Great Lakes, the Atlantic coastline and the mid-west in the United States and Canada. They make their nests on shoals and gravel beaches. They eat marine worms, crustaceans, and insects generally along the wrack zone of high tide on the water’s edge. They move in quick bursts along the beach, hunting for food by sight. When standing still, the birds are difficult to spot because they blend very well into their environment.
Natural Habitat Loss Reason for
