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July 2016

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From:
Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 9 Jul 2016 09:27:23 -0400
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I ran across an interesting account made by folks from Iowa (which
hosted nesting piping plovers in the old days) during a trip across the
Canadian side of the Great Lakes, at http://scarthphoto.com/wp/  . You
will see some of the serious fencing-off (of humans and dogs) the
Canadians are deploying to encourage these birds. I don't know of any
successful habitat protections in Ohio.
        A friend of mine spent some time protecting piping plovers on Long
Island, and found indifference among the local humans; one driver of a
hulking off-road vehicle told her not to worry: "you can run over them
little birds, and they just pop up from the sand after you go by."
        Best (sparse) chances of seeing one of these in Ohio start in late
July--and have been recorded into early November--after they leave their
nests in the north. They tend to appear briefly in spring, when they are
seldom found, though they must pass by. They used to nest on sand
shorelines in all of Ohio's Lake Erie counties, but as far as I can tell
the states' last nest was verified in 1942. In 2001, Peterjohn wrote of
Ohio that "They presently average one sighting every two or three
years," adding that "The majority of inland sightings are from the
Columbus area, where they normally appear once or twice each decade." He
was speaking of mudflats during fall drawdowns at Hoover Reservoir near
his home, but I don't know why other spots with similar habitat wouldn't
serve the same purpose if folks looked for them much elsewhere.
Protection efforts in the US and Canada have reversed their decline
somewhat in recent years. In 1856, Wheaton observed five of them on a
bar in the Scioto River in Columbus, so recovery efforts have a long way
to go. If you have verifiable sightings of this bird in Ohio, send data
to US Fish & Wildlife Service.
Bill Whan





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