Piping plovers

Female piping plover keeping a watchful eye on her young chick. She frequently portrayed the wounded bird role to distract me. Note that this bird has been banded.


This chick was less than 24 hours old. When running, its legs were just a blur.


Piping plovers typically lay 4 eggs in a nest of stones. The parents share the incubation period of 26 days. Once the chicks have hatched, they leave the nest for good and the parents lead them to the nearby water where they learn to find food.

I enjoyed a great afternoon with university students Meghan, Jen and Cheyenne inspecting the breeding area on a Diefenbaker Lake beach a short distance from Elbow, Sask. Employed by the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority, they have 15 beaches to check on a daily basis. So far, they've recorded 51 breeding pairs of plovers which is considerably less than last year, possibly because of the late and cold spring.