Piping Plover
(Charadrius melodus)

Overview

Summary

© Glen Tepke (www.pbase.com/gtepke)
For additional photos and vocalizations, visit Dendroica. (Link opens in a new window.)

There are two subspecies of Piping Plover in Canada; approximately one quarter of Canada’s Piping Plovers are found in the Atlantic provinces (C. m. melodus) while 75% breed in the prairie provinces (C. m. circumcinctus; COSEWIC 2013c). A small number currently breed on the shores of the Great Lakes in Ontario (C. m. circumcinctus), where they had been extirpated for decades. Numbers in the prairies appear to vary widely, while the population on the east coast of Canada has been declining in most recent years. Population levels in the 1970s were in decline, prompting the species to be designated as endangered in Canada. In the United States, the Great Lakes population is considered endangered; elsewhere it is considered threatened. Both subspecies have small population sizes that are well below management goals and have shown declines over either the long- (since 1991) or short-term (2003-2013). For more detailed information on these two subspecies, see the individual subspecies accounts. This species has been identified as a priority for conservation and/or stewardship in one or more Bird Conservation Region Strategies in Canada.

See also:

Designations

Population status

Population estimate

Distribution maps

• BirdLife International / NatureServe

Migration strategy, occurrence

Responsibility for conservation of world population

Conservation and management

Both subspecies of Piping Plovers have small population sizes, which means that even localised disturbances can have significant population-level effects. In Atlantic Canada and Ontario Great Lakes, frequent human disturbance of birds nesting on beaches can lead to abandonment or destruction of nests (Elliott-Smith and Haig 2004). In prairie Canada, climate- or human-induced changes to water levels affect habitat suitability, and could reduce habitat availability in the long-term (Gratto-Trevor and Abbott 2011). Loss of beach habitat on its wintering grounds could also affect the species. Although active management has resulted in range-wide increases in the abundance of Piping Plovers in North America, the species continues to face significant conservation challenges. For information on the legal status of this species under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) and to view available recovery documents, see the SARA Registry.

Bird conservation region strategies

Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:

• conservation concerns (i.e., species vulnerable due to population size, distribution, population trend, abundance, or threats)
• stewardship responsibilities (i.e., species that typify the regional avifauna or have a large proportion of their range or population in the sub-region)
• management concerns (i.e., species that require ongoing management because of their socio-economic importance as game species, or because of their impacts on other species or habitats)
• other concerns (i.e., species deemed a priority by regional experts for other reasons than those listed above or because they are listed as species at risk or concern at the provincial level)

Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.

References

• Bell, F.H. 1978. COSEWIC Status Report on the Piping Plover Charadrius melodus in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. 45 pp.
• Cairns, W.E. 1977. Breeding biology and behaviour of the Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) in southern Nova Scotia. M.Sc. Thesis. Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. 115 pp.
• COSEWIC. 2013c. COSEWIC Assessment and Status Report on the Piping Plover circumcinctus Subspecies (Charadrius melodus circumcinctus) and the melodus Subspecies (Charadrius melodus melodus) in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. xiv. COSEWIC. 2013c. COSEWIC Assessment and Status Report on the Piping Plover circumcinctus Subspecies (Charadrius melodus circumcinctus) and the melodus Subspecies (Charadrius melodus melodus) in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. xiv. (Link)
• Elliott-Smith, E. and S.M. Haig. 2004. Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Elliott-Smith, E. and S.M. Haig. 2004. Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. (Link)
• Elliott-Smith, E., S.M. Haig and B.M. Powers. 2009. Data From the 2006 International Piping Plover Census: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 426. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 332 pp. Elliott-Smith, E., S.M. Haig and B.M. Powers. 2009. Data From the 2006 International Piping Plover Census: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 426. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 332 pp. (Link)
• Gratto-Trevor, C.L. and S. Abbott. 2011. Conservation of Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) in North America: science, successes, and challenges. Canadian Journal of Zoology 89:418-435.