Nova Scotia Comes Alive in 2011!

Summerville Beach – Piping Plover

One of the summer residents in Summerville Beach, just 3 miles north of White Point Beach, is the Piping Plover, a small attractive bird who prefers lakeshores, river sandbars, and ocean coasts. With head and back the color of dried beach sand the Piping Plover blends well into its surroundings, which helps it to hide from predators. It has a white rump, a partially black tail, a black band above its white forehead, and a single, black “belt” or breastband (also referred to as a collar or neckband) that contrasts with its white breast and abdomen. Its bright orange legs match its orange, black-tipped bill. Adults weigh from 43 to 64 g and are about the size of a bluebird.The Piping Plover is the rarest of six “belted” plover species found in North America. The most well known of these plovers is the “double-belted” Killdeer Charadrius vociferus, which many people associate with the broken wing act that it puts on when an enemy gets too close to its nest or young.

The Piping Plover is listed as an endangered species by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). The biggest single reason for that drop is the loss of habitat and most of that loss is caused by human disturbances around nesting sites.

The Atlantic Beach Guardian Program is funded in large part through the Government of Canada’s Habitat Stewardship Program for Species at Risk. The goal of the Habitat Stewardship Program is to contribute to the recovery and protection of habitat for species at risk, and for other species of special concern.

Summerville Beach is a paradise for birders who watch the plovers with a telescope and hope the small bird will rebound with these new conservation efforts.