Fun Facts
Did you know...
Piping Plovers do a "tattoo step" in part of their courtship ritual.
Least Terns will defecate (poop) on you if you enter their colony. Be careful...they eat fish!
Terns and plovers place their nests on the sand, but sometimes the sand can get really, really hot. To keep their eggs cool on very hot days, terns and plovers fly over water and dip their bellies in to get their feathers wet. That way, when they come back to the nest, the water drips onto the eggs and keeps them cool.
Terns and plovers incubate (sit on their eggs) for 28 days. That's almost a whole month!
The Latin name for Piping Plovers, Charadrius melodus, means "pleasantly singing".
Piping Plovers have been called "Ring-neck" for their distinctive black neck band.
Piping Plovers have been called the Cody bird, for Cape Cod, where they are also found and protected.
Both terns and plovers will remove the egg shells from the nest after the chicks hatch.
Least Tern nicknames include "little striker" and "sea swallow".
On their expedition in 1803, Lewis and Clark called Piping Plovers "Kildee".
Meriwether Lewis described the call of the Least Tern as "...two notes one like the squaking of a small pig only on reather a higher kee..."
The Pawnee name for plover is ut.
Piping Plovers feed at the water's edge. Sometimes, the bird will dangle one of it's toes in the water at the very edge where it meets the sand, creating a ripple. The motion brings small invertebrates (insects and worms) to the surface, making it easier for the plover to find food.
Coloring Pages
Least Tern (.pdf)
Least Tern Dot-to-Dot (.pdf)
Piping Plover (.pdf)
Piping Plover Dot-to-Dot (.pdf)
Bird Identification Quiz
Killdeer versus Piping Plover - Can you see the differences?
These two birds, the Killdeer on the left and the Piping Plover on the right, are often misidentified. The Killdeer is a common bird, not only nesting in areas near Piping Plovers, but also nesting in farm fields, yards, and even gravelled parking lots. Piping Plovers are much more particular about where they nest. They like large areas of sand with very little grass, weeds, or other vegetation.
Biologists identify birds by looking at their size, how they fly, and their physical features like the beak or bill, legs, eyes, feather color, etc.
Can you find at least five differences in these birds? When you're finished, click on either picture for the results. Good Luck!
Books about Piping Plovers and Least Terns
- Ahmed and the Nest of Sand - A Piping Plover Story. Written by Kristin Bieber Domm; Illustrations by Jeffrey C. Domm. Nimbus Publishing.
- A Beach for the Birds. Written and photo-illustrated by Bruce McMillan. Houghton Mifflin Company publishers.
How YOU can help
Respect "Keep Out " signs and stay out of fenced areas.
Keep pets on leashes, including cats. Don't let you cat roam - it's dangerous for your cat and for all the small birds and mammals they may harm. Read more about Cats Indoors.
Don't litter. Litter attracts animals that could harm Least Terns and Piping Plovers.
Reduce, reuse and recycle whenever possible.
Learn about Least Terns and Piping Plovers, and tell other people about them.
Volunteer to help in your community.
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