Ann Arbor Times

Sarah Foote, animal program manager at Potter Park Zoo in Lansing, has been part of the effort to help endangered piping plovers recover in the Great Lakes region for 15 summers. Working at the University of Michigan Biological Station’s Piping Plover Captive Rearing Center, Foote and a team provide regular feedings and care for these small shorebirds.

The population of piping plovers reached a record 88 unique nesting pairs this summer, moving closer to the long-term goal of 150 pairs. The Great Lakes once supported nearly 800 pairs before their numbers dropped sharply by 1990. “It’s great to be part of a conservation story that’s a Michigan conservation story,” Foote said. “I am just helping these birds that would’ve never made it in the wild. This is a very special species.”

Aimée Classen, director of the U-M Biological Station and professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, noted the broader significance: “Piping plovers are an important conservation effort,” she said. “We’re seeing declines and biodiversity globally and this program helps to slow that loss. Eighty-eight breeding pairs is a signatory of the success that we’ve had.”

Francie Cuthbert, professor emerita at the University of Minnesota and University of Michigan alumna, explained how protecting piping plovers also safeguards shoreline habitats from development due to their legal status as an endangered species. “Anyone who has spent time in the Great Lakes knows how spectacular many of the beaches are... And those sites are, to a large extent, being protected because of the presence of piping plovers, because of their legal status,” she said.

Adult piping plovers weigh about 1.7 ounces with distinct markings including orange legs and beaks tipped in black. They nest on open sandy beaches often frequented by people and dogs—a source of disturbance—while predators such as merlins and ravens also pose risks.

Cuthbert described their nesting preferences: “Piping plovers nest on the shoreline and they are very traditional... They look for a signature on the landscape...” She started intensive recovery programs over three decades ago at Pellston.

Since then, nesting sites have expanded beyond Michigan into Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario as recolonization efforts continue.

The Piping Plover Captive Rearing Center operates through collaboration between organizations including Detroit Zoological Society (which manages daily operations), University of Minnesota researchers stationed at U-M Biological Station each season for incubation work under federal permits with support from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

“Raising young birds is a lot of work and there has been success,” Cuthbert said. “But recovering the population is very slow. There are lots of threats and reasons that keep the population from exponentially growing.”

Each spring adult birds return north from southern wintering grounds; roughly one-quarter to one-third survive after captive rearing to breed again near their release sites around Douglas Lake or other Great Lakes shores.

Nests can be lost due to predation or flooding—up to 28% abandoned each season—and eggs without parents are incubated at Pellston until chicks can fly (at about four weeks old). Volunteers monitor field conditions while avian specialists rotate two-week shifts caring for chicks indoors before release outdoors along protected stretches where they learn survival skills.

Stephanie Schubel leads banding efforts so individuals can be tracked year-round throughout migration routes extending south as far as Florida or Gulf states: “It’s really important when we learn of those wintering sites that we make sure there’s some sort of protection going on,” Schubel said.

Researchers remain optimistic after recent gains in breeding numbers despite ongoing challenges from habitat pressure or predation: “I think they’re very beautiful birds... But it’s really the Great Lakes shoreline that I find to be so spectacular... We need to protect it,” Cuthbert said.

Classen added perspective on captive-reared bird survival rates: while only about 30% return home after release—the same rate seen among wild fledglings—she called this level unusually high compared with other conservation projects: “That’s outstanding... We’re really unique,” she said.

She emphasized how attention drawn by piping plover recovery efforts encourages broader environmental awareness among students, residents, visitors—and even zookeepers involved in seasonal care programs: “I feel like piping plovers are a gateway for curiosity... And that opens up the whole world of ecology and evolutionary biology...”