Piping Plover Newly Threatened in Proposed Changes to Endangered Species Act

By TRIMMEL GOMES WISCONSIN NEWS CONNECTION • JUL 25, 2018

MADISON, Wis. - Bird enthusiasts and conservation groups say the Trump administration's plans to change the Endangered Species Act would make it more difficult to recover threatened or endangered birds.

The proposal, announced last week by the Interior and Commerce departments, would end the practice of extending similar protections to species regardless of whether they are listed as "endangered" or "threatened."

Steve Holmer, vice president for policy at the American Bird Conservancy, said those distinctions matter, especially in the case of the piping plover, which is considered endangered around the Great Lakes and threatened in other areas of the country. "It's a very charismatic bird that nests on beaches," he said, "but now, under this rule, it could be easier to remove some of that habitat because they wouldn't look at it one project at a time. They would try to bury it within the whole entire habitat."

Deputy Interior Secretary David Bernhardt described the proposal as an effort to fulfill President Donald Trump's executive order to scale back government regulation. Holmer said he'll make his concerns known during the 60-day public comment period through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and another government website.

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Endangered plovers face new threat: snowy owls

By NAINA RAO • JUN 26, 2018

The Environment Report

A new predator has emerged for a little shorebird in our region, the piping plover.

Snowy owls often spend time out on Great Lakes beaches in the winter. It’s a good habitat for them. But something unexpected happened this year.

Vince Cavalieri is the piping plover coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“It became very apparent early this year that there were a lot of snowy owls still being seen,” he says.

He says the owls hung around later than usual.

“This is the first time I’ve seen snowy owls this late into the season in these kinds of numbers and also it’s the first time we know that piping plovers were predated by snowy owls,” says Cavalieri.

This is a problem because piping plovers are an endangered species. There are fewer than 80 nesting pairs in the Great Lakes region.

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In the shadow of Canada’s biggest city, the piping plover struggles to survive

IVAN SEMENIUKSCIENCE REPORTER

PUBLISHED JULY 3, 2018UPDATED 2 DAYS AGO

Endangered they may be, but, this summer, two piping plovers are raising a family of tiny chicks on a Toronto beach where the species has not successfully nested in more than 80 years – all within sight of downtown skyscrapers, hungry predators and airplanes taking off overhead.

Starting on June 20, a total of four eggs hatched in the couple’s nest on the sand at Hanlan’s Point on Toronto Island. Looking no bigger than fuzzy golf balls on toothpicks, the hatchlings have been scurrying around under their parents’ watchful gaze ever since.

“Everybody’s loving them,” said Andrea Gress, who co-ordinates the monitoring of piping plover nests across Ontario for Bird Studies Canada, and who has been working with volunteer monitors at the site.

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Missing bird for 60 years finally breeds again in Pennsylvania

MARY ANN THOMAS  | Sunday, July 30, 2017, 8:33 p.m.

The piping plover, a federally endangered bird missing from Pennsylvania for 60 years is finally breeding at Presque Isle State Park in Erie, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Named after its high-pitched piping call, the piping plover is a robin-sized shorebird that nests on beaches and is colored to blend in with sand and sticks.

Unfortunately, the birds' breeding habitat, open beaches, is also preferred by people.

Development and human traffic on beaches coupled with predation has caused steep declines in the plover population through the 1940s and 1950s.

The Game Commission and the Audubon Society reported two piping plover chicks, which were banded, from one of two nests at the park's Gull Point.

Strong waves overtook the second nest, however, the Game Commission and Audubon biologists rescued the eggs, which were transferred first to the Detroit Zoo and then to the University of Michigan Biological Station piping plover captive-rearing facility. Two chicks hatched and will be released on Lake Michigan in early August.

“This is a testament to dedication and teamwork, not only in Pennsylvania but throughout the species' range,” said Dan Brauning, Game Commission Wildlife Diversity Program Chief. “Their return wasn't by chance, or an accident.”

According to the Audubon Society, bringing the plovers back to the peninsula has taken a lot of work. Audubon provided the “eyes in the field” since 2009, with Mary Birdsong and other monitors providing daily updates on bird sightings and activity to all the agencies involved.

Audubon said it monitors noted, for instance, a tripling of the shorebird population at Gull Point after groups removed invasive plants and other vegetation taking over the sandy beach habitat that plovers and other shorebirds need.

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Restoration efforts bolster population of endangered piping plovers

Date:  July 5, 2017

Source:  SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Summary:  High water on Lake Ontario, urbanization of the New Jersey shore and a growing predator population are among the challenges facing one of America’s iconic shorebirds and the conservationists determined to restore the bird’s population.

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Endangered bird hatched in Lake County finds winter home on Atlantic island

 Chances of survival weren't good for four piping plover chicks that hatched this summer along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Lake County.

The male parent, which typically cares for the young, had disappeared, possibly preyed upon by a hawk or a coyote — and the young had not yet fledged, making them a potential meal for the same or other predators.

But at least one of these chicks has made the more than 850-mile flight to Georgia where it is now spending the winter.

"One of the chicks has been found wintering down on Jekyll Island in Georgia, a known wintering spot for piping plovers" said Vince Cavalieri, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) biologist and Great Lakes Piping Plover recovery coordinator.

The species is federally endangered — and nest in small numbers on the Atlantic Coast, in the northern Great Plains and in the Great Lakes region, where they are most imperiled, Cavalieri said. They winter along the Gulf Coast.

Adult piping plovers are about 7 inches long with sandy-colored backs, white breasts with black bands, orange-yellow legs and black-tipped orange bills. Their downy young are sprinkled with brown to blend in with the pebbly beaches where the species nests.

When Cavalieri learned about the discovery of the Illinois chick wintering in Georgia, he said, "I was super excited."

If a pair of piping plovers is successful at nesting, "there's a very high chance the parents will return," to the same spot — and that means they might be back breeding in Lake County this coming summer, Cavalieri said.

The last time the piping plover attempted nesting in Illinois was in 2009 and the eggs were abandoned and removed to hatch at Lincoln Park Zoo, then released at an established breeding area at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park in Michigan.

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Audubon Fights to Save the Piping Plover

By NICK DIVITO 

BROOKLYN (CN) - Efforts to shore up Fire Island and prevent more damage in the wake of Hurricane Sandy threaten the "survival and recovery" of the threatened Atlantic Coast piping plover, the National Audubon Society claims in Federal Court.

The Army Corps of Engineers plans to preserve the coast by building a series of sand dunes and berms along 19 miles of the Fire Island shoreline in Long Island.

The Audubon Society claims that the project "will result in immediate and long-term significant adverse impacts on piping plover habitat."

Audubon claims the federal government failed to "properly consider" the "cumulative impacts on piping plovers," nor did it objectively study all alternatives.

The group has "long advocated" for the piping plover's protection on Long island and Fire Island.

The group identified the area as an "Important Bird Area" in 1998, and reaffirmed that designation in 2005.

It hired a full-time biologist in 2009 to "help steward piping plovers on Long Island by installing predator enclosures and string fencing around piping plover nests, and advising beachgoers and managers on how to avoid negative impact to plovers," according to the lawsuit.

The group submitted its objections to the government's plan to install the berms on Fire Island in April, and asked for alternative measures to protect the birds.

It says that 1,615 of its members formally submitted comments to the Corps of Engineers critiquing the project, and that it met with Wendi Weber, U.S. Fish and Wildlife northeast region director, to "discuss concerns about the impacts" of the project.

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Endangered birds discovered in Port Elgin

Friday, June 6, 2014 10:35:05 EDT AM

The Town of Saugeen Shores is working closely with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) after the discovery of a nesting pair of Piping Plovers. The endangered birds have taken up residence on the north side of Port Elgin Main Beach near the swing sets and wall.

“This is a very exciting discovery,” says Jayne Jagelewski, director of Community Services for the Town of Saugeen Shores. “These are very rare birds, and we welcome the MNR to ensure they are properly protected.”

The Piping Plover is classified as endangered both provincially and nationally and therefore protected under the provincial Endangered Species Act (2007). A roped barrier with signage has been established and will remain until the chicks have hatched and the family unit cease the area (approx. 40 days). These precautions are in place to ensure the endangered species is not disturbed by human activity or predators.

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Large section of Sea Bright beach closed to protect birds

SEA BRIGHT – This borough’s beautiful beach is for the birds – parts of it, anyway.

The New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife has cordoned off a large portion of Sea Bright’s public beach as a breeding ground for rare and endangered birds.

A half-mile section of beach surrounding the borough’s southernmost public access point is closed so that the piping plover, least tern and American oystercatcher can nest. The beach was closed before Memorial Day and is expected to be closed through August.

Todd Pover, manager for the state beach nesting bird program, explained that the birds are endangered species.

“Plovers and terns are state-designated endangered species,” Pover said. “That means there’s a risk of them becoming extinct, they’re very rare vulnerable and at risk. This user-endangered species conflict is nothing new for this project.”

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Draft report studies impacts of Texas launch site

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN, Associated Press

Updated 2:33 pm, Tuesday, April 16, 2013

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — A proposed rocket site in South Texas won't significantly disrupt endangered species if officials take precautions such as avoiding launches during times the animals are most active, according to a federal study.

The draft environmental impact statement released Monday by the Federal Aviation Administration is an important factor in California-based SpaceX's pursuit of the site near where the Rio Grande empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The final report is a necessary precursor to the FAA issuing licenses allowing SpaceX to launch rockets there, but not a guarantee they will issue them. Florida, Georgia and Puerto Rico also are competing for the site.

The Texas site is less than three miles from the U.S.-Mexico border and is bordered on three sides by state park land that's managed by the federal government as part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. It's just a short sandy walk to Boca Chica Beach.

SpaceX, run by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk, currently launches most of its rockets from Florida's Cape Canaveral, but it's looking for additional launch capacity. Without space shuttles, NASA is relying on private companies such as SpaceX, whose Dragon capsule made its second successful trip to the International Space Station last month.

Gilbert Salinas, vice president for the Brownsville Economic Development Council, which has been courting the project, said he "anticipated some very good, positive feedback with some small risks to the project that could be mitigated."

aplomado falcon

A public meeting to take input on the draft report is scheduled for May 7 in Brownsville.

The report acknowledged the project likely will "adversely affect" some endangered species, including the piping plover, northern aplomado falcon, jaguarundi, ocelot, and sea turtles. But it lists several steps SpaceX could take to lessen those damages.

Among them are conducting pre- and post-launch surveys for the birds and avoiding launches at dusk and dawn, the most active times for the cats. It also suggests avoiding night launches during turtle nesting season.

The report said development for the launch site would occur within 20 acres of the 56-acre site.

"It's important to note that SpaceX is very experienced in ensuring that our sites have a minimal environmental impact," said Christina Ra, SpaceX's Director of Communications, in an email last month. "Almost all launch sites (including SpaceX's launch sites at Vandenberg Air Force Base and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station) are on environmental preserves or habitats. This provides general isolation for both the launch site and the preserve."

Salinas repeated the common comparison to NASA's Florida launch facility at Cape Canaveral, where rockets and wildlife have coexisted for decades. Cape Canaveral is overlaid with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

But there are significant differences.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/texas/article/Draft-report-studies-impacts-of-Texas-launch-site-4438198.php#ixzz2QjLWpPEG