Green Thursday The Piping Plovers are Back

For Green Thursday.

They're baaaaack :O)



Every year for the past 3-4 years the piping plovers have returned to the eastern beach in Wasaga beach. They make their nests in the sand for their young and we're waiting. The whole area and birding enthusiasts have falllen in love with them. There is another mesting area in Sauble Beach on Lake Huron.


Piping Plovers are rare, endangered birds. There are approximately 55 nesting couples around the Great Lakes and this year we have 2 couples and one other male here in Wasaga Beach. The other female stayed in Michigan apparently. They are waiting for their eggs to hatch, although they are late by about a week. Last year the eggs were lost during a hail storm and to a predator. :(

I posted some of the signs :0)) that the Ministry of Natural Resources have posted. ** Wasaga Beach shoreline is a provincial park and falls under the auspices of MNR. They have done a great job of maintaining the beach, preserving the sand dunes and educating the public on beach stewardship.







Along the boardwalk, there is a very large area fenced off.



One of the areas where the birds run around. The chicks are so cute and they zip along quickly ;) They like to get to the water's edge to get their little webbed feet wet ;) There are many have volunteers out all day talking about the plovers and documenting any activity :0) YAY to the Volunteers!!

I am taking these photos from behind a fence, obviously zoomed, which is why the photos are a bit blurred.


Taking care of their young.


They leave all the drift wood for the birds to nest and hide in. Their colours camouflage them from predators. They even left a dead seagull on the beach in hopes of scaring other gulls away. Notice the cage on the right, a protected area where they nest. We saw them exchange and take turns sitting on the eggs :)



And here are the little plovers running, and playing :) along the water! One, we called him Jack, liked to run ahead of the others. He was sort of an independent little fellow. They were fun to watch try to fly, at one point the three of them all flapped their little wings and got about 12 " off the ground before the fell back down! So cute!











More on the Piping Plovers in Wasaga Beach, click here
and here in the Toronto Star.

For more green/environmentally oriented posts check out the Rambling Woods Blog for some excellent articles and photos!

http://ramblingwoodsgreen.wordpress.com/

P.S. My friend in Saskatchewan is a wonderful gardener, an all natural, pesticide free zone :) A perfect for thie Green Thursday! So have a peek at her blog and her photo of her first tomato of the season! Whoohoo.

School of Yard Knocks: Gardening Guess by Golly in Saskatoon by Jacki