Piping Plover Project

This afternoon the master naturalists met at the end of Wisconsin point to learn about the piping plover project. This is a joint project with the Wisconsin DNR and the US Fish and Wildlife department. These agencies hired the St. Louis River Alliance to monitor the site. Every day between May 1st and June 15th, staff monitor the area with binoculars and scopes to survey birds. Piping plovers have not nested here (nor on Minnesota point) since 1983. This year they saw one piping plover but it didn't stay. The St. Louis River Alliance also does stewardship work so that the area looks more like one of the Apostle Islands where piping plovers do nest. They planted dune grasses. They burn big piles of driftwood. They cut down trees so that a merlin doesn't sit there because a merlin would attack a piping plover. The area is surrounded by a tall fence like you would see around a prison. You can see some of the fence on the left side of the photo. I enjoy going in places where normally I would not be allowed in.

They also hauled in some small rocks. Plovers build their nests out of white or whitish colored inch long stones. To court a female, a male piping plover will kick a stone and start building a nest. He might build two nests. If the female is willing she will choose one of his nests. If a nest is observed to have two eggs the staff will cover it with a five square feet fence with fencing over the top to keep out birds of prey. The plovers are small enough to walk right through the fence when they need to. After learning all this we helped weed the dune grass and the rock beds. I picked a large trash bag full of weeds. With seven of us working we made a big difference in a short amount of time.