Presque Isle Piping Plover monitoring

16/12/2025

As we all know, you can't spell Piping Plover without "LOVE"!
A Message of Gratitude and Giving, from our flock to yours: https://mailchi.mp/eriebirdobservatory/reflections_2025-2

For the past 12 years, Mary Birdsong has monitored shorebirds at Presque Isle State Park. An honor and a pleasure, she writes. And while deeply attached to all the birds she sees, the Piping Plovers she so proudly monitors clearly hold a special place in her heart. Afterall, you can't spell plover without "love."
From our flock to yours: A Message of Gratitude & Giving - https://mailchi.mp/eriebirdobservatory/reflections_2025-2

23/10/2025

Join us 🎉TONIGHT🎉 to celebrate our beloved plovers and to raise a toast to another successful nesting season!

15/06/2025

Happy Poppa Plover Day from your friends at Erie Bird Observatory!!

🎉Happy Father’s Day! 🎉

that when it comes to Piping Plovers, both mom AND dad share incubation duties. Each partner takes a one-hour (or longer!) turn keeping those eggs at juuuuuuust the right temp while the other goes off to forage and stretch their wings. When it’s time for shift change, watch carefully as the exchange from one parent to the other happens very quickly; the arriving bird sneaking in, stealth on foot. To the human observer, this transfer happens in an unexpected flurry of activity.

So the next time you might be tempted to think “what a dedicated mom sitting on that nest,” think again! There’s a good chance that’s dad - surprise! 🏆🙌🏻

**********
📸: first-time poppa “Splitz” incubating (top), “YOLL” incubating (bottom) both by Sarah Sargent; Proud Poppa Plover & family, Mary Birdsong©️2019

All photos digiscoped at a safe distance as part of standardized monitoring protocols and in accordance w/ required state and federal permits. As a reminder, the entire Gull Point Natural Area is closed to public access to give these federally-endangered plover parents plenty of space to rest and raise their young. Please respect the roped off areas, thank you! 🩵

Presque Isle State Park, PA Great Lakes Piping Plover Recovery Effort Erie Bird Observatory

09/06/2025

📰 Eggs-tra! Eggs-tra! Eggs-tra! 📰

Happy Monday, indeed! Have you seen the latest plover update from the PGC (link in comments). Currently, we have not one, but TWO incubating pairs of federally-endangered Piping Plovers out at Gull Point! 🎉

‘YOLL' (O,L:X,L), a male that’s nested here the last 2 yrs and his half-sister, 'BOL' (-,O:X,L), have set up housekeeping and are carefully sharing incubation duties. But they aren’t the only ones in the neighborhood! They have been joined by a male we’ve nicknamed 'Splitz' (band combo O,L:X,L/O/L) that hatched last year at Tawas Point State Park in Michigan and a female (X,-:O,Y) from Ontario.

We look forward to welcoming their adorable offspring to the world!

As a reminder, the entire Gull Point Natural Area is closed to public access to give these plovers plenty of space to rest and raise their young. As always, we thank you and the birds thank you!

📸: PGC press release; ‘Splitz’ incubating by Sarah Sargent; ‘YOLL’ by RKindervater

****************
As they say, “It takes a village…” Erie Bird Observatory is proud to be part of the hardworking and dedicated Pennsylvania Piping Plover Recovery team that includes: Pennsylvania Game Commission-Northwest Region; Presque Isle State Park, PA; Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region; US Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District; USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; Western Pennsylvania Conservancy; Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program (PNHP); Great Lakes Piping Plover Recovery Effort

31/12/2024

Thank YOU for helping us Soar in 2024!!

11/12/2024

‼️Last Call for Re-Tern Shirts‼️
All proceeds benefit Erie Bird Observatory’s migratory bird research, education, and conservation efforts. Order yours today: https://www.bonfire.com/celebrate-terns-2024/

06/12/2024

The shorebird species is endangered in Pennsylvania and two juveniles fledged their nest on sandy, Lake Erie beach in August.

14/08/2024

TWO HOURS remain to amplify your impact with a prorated donation match.

Through midnight tonight only - All Donations Enhanced by a Prorated Match! Go to:
https://www.eriegives.org/organizations/erie-bird-observatory and Show your LOVE and SUPPORT for Pennsylvania’s ONLY pair/s of federally-endangered Piping Plovers (as well as the dedicated conservationists who monitor them!) 💚

15/06/2024

The is an annual birding competition hosted by Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology (PSO) that generates valuable info on the abundance & distribution of PA’s breeding birds as well as raises money for avian conservation organizations across the state.

Learn more and show your support for the Erie Bird Observatory Piping Hot Plovers here: https://www.breedingbirdblitz.org/piping-hot-plovers

The 2024 is on! EBO’s Piping Hot Plovers have been racing across Erie County since 4:30AM, binoculars in hand, attempting to defend our title for the 3rd year in a row all while supporting critical avian conservation efforts across Pennsylvania! 🙌🏻

This powerhouse team of Ripley Kindervater, Brian Miller, Victoria Walton, and led by captain Katie Andersen had already snagged 101 species BY NOON. And check out that good luck charm — a drawing by Brian’s daughter, Olive! 🤩

With still plenty of hours left in the day— will the Piping Hot Plovers remain the reigning champs?!

Learn more & Show your Support for EBO’s team here: https://www.breedingbirdblitz.org/piping-hot-plovers

As always we thank you & the birds thank you!

********************
Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology (PSO) Erie Bird Observatory

07/06/2024

We’re so ‘egg-cited’ to report a pair of federally endangered Piping Plovers are nesting at Gull Point once again! Monitoring these precious beach gems = best job ever 🥰

Happy Friday, indeed! Check out the ‘egg-citing’ update below from the Pennsylvania Game Commission on the federally-endangered Piping Plovers here in that we’re extremely privileged to monitor. 🥰

************************
“Egg-citing update! The rare piping plovers are officially in nesting mode on the shoreline of Lake Erie. 🥚🌊

The male that arrived last month, a 2022 PA fledge and 2023 PA nester, paired up with a female that has been nesting in PA since 2021! She hatched in 2019 on Wasaga Beach, Ontario.

The beach provides the ideal habitat as it is far away from trees and other plants that can conceal predators. Piping plovers nest in a small depression in the sand, called a scrape, which is lined with pebbles and shells for the ultimate camouflage of their speckled eggs.

After a bit of aerial acrobatics and some fancy scraping and pebble-tossing, the egg laying begins. The female lays one egg every 1.5 days until she has a full clutch, which is typically four eggs. This clutch has four eggs.

For the next 28 days, these dedicated bird parents take turns incubating the eggs until they hatch into adorable little “cotton balls with legs”.

The Game Commission, along with our friends at Presque Isle State Park and Erie Bird Observatory, is keeping a close eye on these birds and our fingers crossed for a successful hatch!

Let’s give these amazing birds their best chance of survival by respecting the closure of the entire Gull Point Natural Area beach and following all park rules when visiting.

Have you ever seen a piping plover? If so, you laid eyes on one of the rarest birds in North America!”

***********************
As they say, “It takes a village…” and Erie Bird Observatory is proud to be part of the hardworking and dedicated Pennsylvania Piping Plover Recovery team that includes: Pennsylvania Hame Commission; Presque Isle State Park, PA; Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region; US Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District; USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; Western Pennsylvania Conservancy; Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program (PNHP); Great Lakes Piping Plover Recovery Effort.

📸: PGC Press Release / Mary Birdsong for EBO.

29/05/2024

Some exciting visitors out at Gull Point this week!🤩

Presque Isle State Park, PA was privileged to host one of the world’s premier ultra-endurance athletes this week?! 😎

Long-distance is by far the most extreme and life-threatening thing that any animal routinely undertakes. There are roughly 70 species of shorebirds worldwide that journey from the top of the globe to the bottom and back every year— and the Hudsonian Godwit is one of them.

A Hudsonian Godwit’s incredible migration route takes them from their arctic bog breeding grounds each summer to the tip of South America each winter — nearly 10,000 miles EACH WAY!! The longest leg of their journey is on their return from Chile. They fly at speeds between 29mph and 50mph— NONSTOP!— FOR 6,000 MILES they do not eat, drink, nor rest. 🤯

Also spotted out at Gull Point— 2 Whimbrels! And while these arctic-breeding shorebirds don’t have quite the same epic journey as the Hudsonian Godwit, in the fall they’ve been known to fly 2,500 MILES NONSTOP out over open water to their South American wintering grounds. So, yeah, pretty impressive! 🤩

Birds are amazing and we are so grateful for the privilege to spend time with these incredible globetrotters.

*******************
📸: (top) Whimbrel by Mary Birdsong; (bottom) Hudsonian Godwit by Ripley Kindervater