By the time you read this, four little Piping Plover chicks may be taking their first steps on the shore of Whitefish Point. With their hatch date right around the corner, June 23, I watch in anticipation and preparation. Piping Plover chicks are described as small cotton balls on two toothpicks, so naturally, I [...]
Piping Plover activity at Whitefish Point continues without a hitch as I patiently wait for June 23. Vie on shore. Photo by Stephanie Owens Each day, I check on the nest and watch for an incubation exchange between Vie and Little Bill Bob to make sure each is present and fulfilling their [...]
Monitoring this week consisted of the usual suspects. Lover Boy spends most of his time east of the boardwalk entrance. Wybie hangs out just west of it. The popular foraging area is directly between either territory, with Little Bill Bob in the mix, causing skirmishes amongst all the males. Vie and Bob continue to [...]
Things are moving along pleasantly for our pair here at Whitefish Point. Little Bill Bob on the nest in the new mid-sized exclosure. Photo by Stephanie Owens As of Tuesday, May 28, four eggs have been laid in the nest. On Wednesday the nest received an upgrade from a mini exclosure to [...]
Life has been moving slowly at Whitefish Point for the Piping Plovers, but that’s nothing to complain about. That was how I intended to start this update until Friday afternoon. My days would start with observing lonely males like Of,YB:X,Y/O and Lover Boy foraging about, making scrapes, and calling for a mate. In the [...]
The Great Lakes Piping Plovers are starting to return to Whitefish Point. The first three days of my surveying painted the picture of a bachelor’s paradise. X,-:O,- aka Lover Boy. Photo by Stephanie Owens Males like ((X,-:O,-) (Green dot)) have seemingly determined their territory, and spend the days scraping and parallel walking [...]
The Piping Plover chicks at Whitefish Point are now two weeks old. All four chicks are still going strong and are looking bigger by the day! Most days, I see the chicks accompanied by Violet (X,V:Of,YY) with Really Tricky (X,R:Of,LY) settling territory boundaries with other males. The chicks have begun to explore the shoreline [...]
It’s been a big week for our Piping Plovers at Whitefish Point! The eggs from our nesting pair, Violet and Really Tricky, have finally hatched. Wednesday morning, I noticed movement in the nest while Violet incubated the eggs. As she got up to switch with Tricky, I spotted two chicks! The chicks slowly left the [...]
This week we had some predator activity in the Piping Plover area. On Wednesday, I found two detached wings from different birds along the shoreline near our nest. I kept an eye out but did not see any raptors. I arrived at the Point Saturday morning to find either a Merlin or a Peregrine Falcon [...]
Our current pair (Really Tricky and mate) seem to be doing well this week, and I’ve been watching them switch incubation about every hour. I haven’t had any issues with off-leash dogs. Ron spotted a Merlin in the parking lot on Monday, but we haven’t had any issues in the plover area. A new male [...]
