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The story of piping plover recovery in Green Bay, Wisconsin began in 2016 when a pair nested at the Cat Island Restoration Chain � an active beneficial dredge material facility in lower Green Bay, Lake Michigan. This landmark nesting event was the first for the bay in over 70 years. Since 2016, piping plovers have nested at the site annually and have fledged a total of 68 wild hatched chicks. With new individuals added to the population, and nesting density at the Cat Island Restoration Chain reached, the recovery team has observed birds radiating out from the site to other suitable habitat.
The exciting discovery in 2023 of a nested pair at Longtail Point, just two miles north of the Cat Island Restoration Chain, added another chapter to the plover recovery story. Longtail Point is a state wildlife area that provides important stopover habitat for migrating shorebirds and other waterbird species. Since 2023, a pair has nested at Longtail Point each breeding season, but no eggs hatched in the wild in 2023 or 2024 � that changed this year when the first wild hatch was observed. Despite the milestone wild hatch, none of the chicks fledged, and at least one of the breeding adults was killed by a predator.
Predation is a significant challenge in piping plover recovery that is often confounded by habitat loss or degradation. At Longtail Point, there is limited open beach habitat preferred by nesting piping plovers due in part to encroachment by invasive vegetation and woody plant species as well as significant erosion of the point due to wind and waves. The need for enhancement of nesting habitat was underscored when the 2023 pioneering pair narrowly made it through a nest washout event only to later lose the full clutch of eggs to a common grackle � a bird that prefers forest edge habitat and coastal marshes and has an omnivorous appetite. Confirmed predation of at least one breeding adult piping plover by an avian predator this year, likely a great horned owl, further solidified the need to address woody species, like cottonwood trees, that serve as perches for aerial predators.
Partnering with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the Coastal Program secured funding to enhance plover habitat from 2024 through 2027 through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI). Habitat enhancement activities completed for the project so far include chemical and mechanical treatment of vegetation. A prescribed burn prescribed burn
A prescribed burn is the controlled use of fire to restore wildlife habitat, reduce wildfire risk, or achieve other habitat management goals. We have been using prescribed burn techniques to improve species habitat since the 1930s.
Learn more about prescribed burn may be implemented to remove dead vegetation. The habitat improvements mentioned above may provide a key to successful wild hatch of chicks and chicks reaching the fledgling milestone � an important recovery metric.
This year, Green Bay hosted four pairs of piping plovers that fledged 10 chicks, or 2.5 fledglings for every pair. Green Bay’s fledge rate is above the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s recovery goal of 1.5 fledglings per pair, solidifying how important Green Bay’s up and coming breeding sites and impassioned partners are for the recovery of the Great Lakes population.
