Piping Plover - Nest, Eggs, Chicks

Nests:

• Semi-colonial nesters
• Nests often found in Least Tern colonies
• Typically lay 4 eggs in a small cup-like depression on the ground
• Line nest with small pebbles
• Place eggs with the narrow ends pointing to the center of the nest
• May lay several clutches if nest is destroyed
• Only raise one brood per season
• Male and female incubate the eggs

Eggs:

• Well camouflaged
• A pale buff color usually with fine black markings
• sually uniform in size and coloration
• Take about 28 days to hatch

Chicks:

• Well camouflaged against sand and gravel
•  Downy with white undersides, buff and grayish back and head with dark speckling, white collar around back of neck, pale orange legs, and black bill
• Precocial which means they are relatively mature and mobile, with down and eyes open from time of hatching
• Able to walk away from nest day of hatching
• Forage for themselves, eating aquatic insects in the sand but parental care is provided until about 21 to 28 days
• Able to fly at about 28 days

Defensive Behavior:

• Adults defend their nests and chicks using a broken wing display or “feigning”
•  Adults will make alarm calls, limp, and pretend to be injured to lead the intruder away from nest and chicks
• Plovers nesting in Interior Least Tern colonies have the advantage of sharing defense with the more aggressive terns
• Chicks will either lay flat, hide under a plant or stick, or run and then hide from intruders depending on their age

Nest and Chick Predators:

• American Kestrels (Falco sparverius)
• Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias)
• American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
• Owls
• Skunks, Raccoons
• Foxes, Coyotes
• Cats, Dogs
• Humans