Camera-Critters #111: Piping Plover

This Sunday, May 16, I went to stroll on the sandy beach of Popponesset Spit in search of endangered Piping Plovers.  The trip was organized by the Long Pasture Wildlife Sanctuary of the Mass Audubon.  It was lead by the Sanctary Dirctor Ian Ives and Melanie of the Barnstable Land Trust.

Popponesset bay on the Cape Cod is fed by Mashpee River and Santuit River.  The bay is separated from Nantucket Sound by Popponesset Peninsula or simply as "The Spit" as the local call it.  The Bay now is surrounded by million-dollar homes.  The end of The Spit has been donated to Mass Audubon.  Various shorebirds, including Tern, Oystercatcher and Pipping Plover have been found nesting on the beach.

Piping Plover is listed as endangered by the Federal Government and by Massachusetts.  We saw two pairs today on The Spit.  They are really cheerful little birds.  Piping Plovers winter in the Gulf of Mexico and migrate toward north in the spring.  After the chicks are hatched, they are able to feed within hours and will have to be able to migrate by itself back to the south by September.

You can click on the images to get a clear view of the bird.

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