Piping Plovers are small, endangered shorebirds in Manitoba. Its call is described as a "plaintive peep-lo" which made it the perfect name for this blog as it too is a plaintive call, a Call to Action.

06 July 2010

Ancient Plover Found - ALIVE!

Back in mid-June, I received an email with some amazing news.

On June 14, 1997 a piping plover egg was collected off of Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota. It was transported to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' captive rearing facility at the Gavins Point Project. It hatched out on June 22. After fledging, the chick and 15 other captive reared plovers were released on July 26 at the Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Montana.

Now the good part. On June 4, 2010, a month ago, the Corps of Engineers' Bismarck crew observed a light blue flagged piping plover that they were able to associate with a nest on a sandbar at River Mile 1304.1 on the Missouri River. This site is about 13 km (8 miles) downriver from Bismarck ND. The crew returned on June 9 and captured the plover on the nest and read its band number. The band revealed it to be the plover hatched at the Gavins Point Project 13, yes, your math is correct, 13 years ago.

As a plover in the wild lives about 4-6 years, maybe 7, this discovery is truly remarkable. It would be like finding a 150-year-old human being - ALIVE!

KP