ODNR Division of Wildlife - A to Z Species Guide - Piping Plover

Piping Plover

Photo by Richard Day/Daybreak Imagery

Piping plovers used to nest on the larger Lake Erie beaches, but due to the disturbance and destruction of their delicate habitat, this species has disappeared as an Ohio breeder. The last nesting record was in 1942; the piping plover is now only a migrant species.

Piping Plover

Charadrius melodus

At-a-Glance

• Incubation: 25-31 days

• Clutch Size: 4 eggs

• Young Fledge: 20-32 days after hatching

• Typical Foods: insects, small crustaceans, fly larvae and beetles

• Ohio Status: Endangered

Description
These diminutive and beautifully marked plovers mimic the color of their preferred habitat well. Their sandy brown plumage blends well with the sands that they favor. It has an incomplete black breastband and a stubby orange and black bill.

Habitat and Habits
Piping plovers prefer sandy beaches, but migrants use large mudflats. As the scientific epithet melodus suggests, they have a pleasingly melodic two-noted piping call.

Reproduction and Care of the Young
Nests are scrapes made in the sand, lined with pebbles and shells. Male and female plovers share the chore of incubation.