PIPL is the common abbreviation used for the Piping Plover. This small shorebird is recognizable by its bright yellow legs and known for its favorite cuisine - marine worms - that it pulls out of the sand like spaghetti. Piping Plover populations were in sharp decline in the 1980s when it was federally listed. The Great Plains and Atlantic Coast breeding populations were listed as threatened while the Great Lakes population warranted endangered designation with only 16 pairs remaining in 1986.

Listing a species is just a first step in the efforts to save it from extinction. Next the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) develops and implements a recovery plan, a process that is successful only with the help and involvement of many partners. And, as stated at the non-breeding Piping Plover meeting recently held in Beaufort SC, PIPLs are lucky to have so many people caring for them and working hard on their recovery. Wildlife agencies, land managers, academia, involved citizens, corporations and NGOs from the US but also from Mexico, the Bahamas and Canada -places where the PIPL winters – all came to discuss ways to improve the species’ recovery by protecting the birds better on their wintering and migrating grounds.

Intense efforts on the breeding grounds have been successful at increasing the number of nesting pairs and nesting success but not yet to the level necessary to sustain the populations. Survival on the non-breeding grounds is vitally important to the species’ recovery. Identified threats include beach and inlet modifications - expected to increase with sea level rise - and disturbances by recreating beach-goers and their pets. The just-published Comprehensive Conservation Strategy includes recommendations to help minimize impacts to the birds on non-breeding grounds. Recommended protections include the development of site stewardship plans and measures such as symbolic fencing of the roosting grounds, no dogs, vehicles or wrack removal within 1.5 km of unstabilized inlets, ongoing monitoring, and outreach including site stewards.

With our well-developed bird steward program, Audubon Florida (both staff and chapter members) is well positioned to help our partners, land managers, and agencies improve PIPL conservation in the state.  Many PIPLs winter in Florida, including a large number of Great Lakes birds – marked with an orange leg flag. Because PIPLs use the same habitat as some of our nesting species, protecting their habitat from destruction and disturbance will benefit our nesting birds, as well as other migratory shorebirds and seabirds.

So let’s get to work. Familiarize yourself with the Comprehensive Conservation Strategy (look for links to it here) and help us implement its recommendations on a beach in your area.