However, dozens of plover nests were attacked by predators this season, including at least 26 at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, a national park on Lake Michigan about 25 miles west of Traverse City.<\/p>\n
Related: Oldest Great Lakes piping plover has 2 chicks this season at Sleeping Bear<\/a><\/p>\n A great horned owl killed a brood of chicks at the national park\u2019s Dune Climb Trail, and coyotes ate eggs from six plover nests on North Manitou Island.<\/p>\n \u201cThis season was a bit difficult for hatching and chick survival, but in conclusion survival was not too dismal,\u201d said Stephanie Schubel, of the Great Lakes Piping Plover Conservation Team.<\/p>\n There were 110 plover chicks that fledged in the wild, meaning they grew all their feathers, were able to fly and care for themselves without their parents. Another 36 chicks raised in captivity<\/a> were also released by scientists onto Great Lakes beaches this year.<\/p>\n Statistics show this year\u2019s overall chick survival rate for the plovers was on target for eventual recovery of the endangered species, despite the losses to predators. There is no fixed timeframe for the species to recover, but instead a set of recovery goals including fledge rate \u2013 the average number of chicks per breeding pair that survive.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s fledge rate for wild plovers was just below the recovery goal of 1.5 chicks per pair. And the birds surpassed the recovery goal when the captive-reared chicks were added in for 146 total chicks this summer. The record number of fledged chicks was 167 two years ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sunrise side birds<\/p>\n Another bright spot for Michigan\u2019s piping plovers this year came on the sunrise side of the state.<\/p>\n This is the third consecutive year of record-setting plover breeding in the Great Lakes. Now an increasing number of the federally endangered birds are establishing nests on the Lake Huron side of the Lower Peninsula; five this year, with one in Cheboygan, another in Oscoda, and three at Tawas Point State Park.<\/p>\n It was the first attempted nest at Cheboygan State Park since the 1990s, said Nick Theisen, watershed technician for nonprofit Huron Pines.<\/p>\n One chick from the Cheboygan site was captive-reared and released, along with four chicks from the Tawas Point site. One chick fledged in the wild at the Oscoda site.<\/p>\n It amounts to a lot of plover activity on the east side of Michigan.<\/p>\n Related: Great Lakes piping plover moms head to southern islands and leave dad behind<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe have the same male who\u2019s come back for the past three years, which is exciting,\u201d Theisen said. \u201cUnfortunately, he lost both of his nests, but his eggs were the ones that were salvaged, kept and reared, and re-released. So, we\u2019re hoping that he comes back.\u201d<\/p>\n And this was the fourth year on the Huron shore near Oscoda for another male piping plover nicknamed \u201cEast Side Bob.\u201d His moniker comes from his ankle tags colored blue, orange, blue \u2013 BOB.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s successfully fledged chicks. I mean, it\u2019s not as good of a site as Tawas Point. It\u2019s a really weird beach that he likes, but, you know, he likes it. It works,\u201d Theisen said.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, predators also took their toll on the Lake Huron shore. Wildlife monitors at Tawas Point documented a merlin killing a female adult, and they believe gulls ate the eggs from another nest there.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re an endangered species for a reason,\u201d Theisen said.<\/p>\n Michigan residents race for rooftop solar after Trump administration axes tax credit<\/a>Aug. 22, 2025, 8:30a.m.Incredibly rare bumble bee \u2018ghost\u2019 reappears in Michigan after 25 years<\/a>Aug. 21, 2025, 9:15a.m.Michigan AG says climate impacts put citizens \u2018in very real jeopardy\u2019<\/a>Aug. 20, 2025, 2:52p.m.Inbreeding among Michigan\u2019s rare rattlesnakes is harming their ability to survive<\/a>Aug. 19, 2025, 8:30a.m.Michigan seeks citizen scientists to help monitor wildfire smoke problem<\/a>Aug. 16, 2025, 9:00a.m.<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The plovers kept quite busy this summer. Great Lakes piping plover breeding set a big record this year,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-106836","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"File](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/UJKDO7MMFBDHZGEV7LTSIDYHAI.JPG\")
This MLive file photo shows recently hatched Great Lakes piping plover chicks on their first day outside the incubator, kept corralled in an enclosure June 25, 2025, at the University of Michigan Biological Station near Pellston. (Sheri McWhirter | MLive.com)Sheri McWhirter<\/p>\n