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.
As of 5:00 PM today, Friday, July 2, we have seven chicks scurrying along the sands of Grand. The 'parking lot #5' nest began its hatch on Saturday, June 19. The first three chicks were on the move by the following day. It would take egg number four until sometime early Tuesday morning to produce the last chick, much to our relief. They are now 12-14 days old and mainly self-sufficient. They won't take their first short flights for at least another 10 days.
On the morning of Wednesday, June 30, I discovered three chicks in the 'channel' nest, right on schedule. Yesterday, the final egg hatched, but unfortunately one chick was lost. We don't know what happened and the chick was not found. No known predators were seen at the time so whether the chick died of some natural cause or perhaps exposure, we will never know. Although we have lost one chick, we are still very pleased to have three young ones on the move. As you may recall, we nearly lost this nest due to flooding. Only the quick response of Morgan and Matt in moving the nest to higher ground saved this nest from certain disaster.
KP
