As part of the recovery plan, piping plover nests are closely monitored by the keepers.  If an egg is determined to be abandoned, it is transferred to the UMBS where the captive rearing facilities are located.  The salvage rearing efforts include artificially incubating the abandoned eggs, rearing hatched chicks and releasing the birds back into the wild when the chicks fledge.

Tom Schneider, the Detroit Zoological Society’s Curator of Birds, coordinates the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) effort to provide trained staff to assist with the captive rearing of the piping plover chicks.  “Captive-reared plovers help to supplement the chicks that are reared naturally in nests along Lakes Michigan and Superior,” said Schneider.  “Over the last several years, the captive birds have represented approximately 15 percent of all Great Lakes piping plover chicks that have fledged, and several of these birds have returned to nest.” 

The Great Lakes population of piping plovers has been listed as federally endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act since 1986.  Once estimated at over 600 pairs, piping plovers nested throughout the Great Lakes region.  By the early 1980s, the population had declined to under 20 pairs due to loss of habitat and disturbance of nesting birds.    

The piping plover population has been growing steadily as a result of the recovery efforts, and in 2007 there were over 60 nesting pairs found in the Great Lakes region.  Although still extremely vulnerable to extinction from predation, beach development and nest disturbance, the Great Lakes piping plover’s numbers are stable.  Salvage captive rearing will remain an important component in the population recovery goal of 100 breeding pairs.

The Recovery Plan for the Great Lakes Piping Plover was approved in 2003 by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).  For the past five years grant funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has supported the program. 

The Detroit Zoological Society is a non-profit organization that operates the Detroit Zoo and Belle Isle Nature Zoo.  Situated on 125 acres of naturalistic exhibits, the Detroit Zoo is located at the intersection of Ten Mile Road and Woodward Avenue, just off I-696, in Royal Oak.  The Detroit Zoo is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. April through October (open at 9:30 a.m. Memorial Day through Labor Day) – with extended hours until 8 p.m. Wednesdays during July and August – and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. November through March.  Admission is $11 for adults 13 to 61, $9 for senior citizens 62 and older, and $7 for children ages 2 to 12; children under 2 are free.  For more information, call (248) 541-5717 or visit www.detroitzoo.org.  The Belle Isle Nature Zoo is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. year-round and provides educational programming with interpretive staff support from the Huron-Clinton Metroparks.  For more information, call (313) 852-4056. 
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