The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay

(gentle music) Lengthening days of late winter beckon migratory birds to begin their annual northward journey.

Piping plovers depart from the sandy shores of the Caribbean and Southern Atlantic states, flying north along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.

Traveling through wind and rain and late season snowstorms, a young male arrives hungry and weary to the welcoming shores of Moonlight Bay.

(seagull calling) Located on the North Atlantic coast, Moonlight Bay is a half-moon shaped cove with a sandy shore and gently sloping dunes.

The southern side abuts a tidal creek that flows in and out of a lush salt marsh.

Twin lighthouses mark the north side.

Moonlight Bay is one of the region's most popular summer destinations.

But when migrating plovers first arrive in early spring, they find a windswept, minimally inhabited landscape.

Piping plovers are so small, you can hold one in the palm of your hand.

Nonetheless, they are charismatic birds with big personalities.

Mirroring coastal hues, piping plovers are well-hidden amidst weathered driftwood, seashells, and sand.

Adult piping plovers sport a crescent moon-shaped headband and wider collar band.

Usually, male plovers have a dark headband and collar band, while the female's headband may be paler and her shoulder collar less pronounced.

Teeny toes on toothpick-sized legs propel them around the beach with lightning speed.

Their black-tipped orange bill is darker in winter, more brilliant in summer.

For the sake of our story, we'll call this newly arrived traveler Big Papi.

Now, Papi is a determined sort of fellow.

Spending the first few days resting and feeding, he then sets about the all-important business of finding a mate.

Papi flies high overhead in flight display, piping loudly while circling to establish his territory.

He scours the landscape, chasing away intruders and competing males.

(plover chirps) After a time, Papi's efforts are rewarded, and he is joined by a traveling female.

(gentle music) She, too, is weary from her journey.

First resting and foraging along the water's edge, she becomes interested in Papi's highly noticeable antics.

(gentle music continues) Let's call her Pippi.

Papi sets about showing Pippi what a fine mate he will make.

He lies on his chest and kicks, digging vigorously to create shallow nest scrapes throughout the pair's territory.

The scrapes may be tucked behind a clump of dried seaweed, or hidden in the beach grass, or located where there is no protection whatsoever, and all these scrapes in the sand are merely tiny dugouts not much deeper than a teacup saucer.

(upbeat music) To make the nest even more enticing, he tosses into the shallow depression dried bits of seaweed and beach grass, tiny stones, pieces of broken shells, whatever is readily available.

Piping plovers are named for their distinctive piping vocalizations.

(plover chirping) When warning of pending danger, the calls are piercingly sharp.

When the chicks are snuggled safely beneath Mom or Dad, the parent's peeps are gently reassuring and barely audible.

The most notable of all is the melodious song the male makes to the female, calling her to join him in courtship.

(Papi chirping) Papi pipes his mating call to Pippi.

Pippi stops by to see what he has accomplished.

He spreads his wings and tilts his tail feathers upwards, displaying his cloaca.

The cloaca is a bird's V-shaped vent, located on the lower belly.

From the bird's vent, eggs are laid if a female, sperm is passed if a male, and from where poop is excreted.

Mammals have multiple orifices for their urinary, digestive, and reproductive tracts, but birds only have one.

(upbeat music) Pippi likes what she sees, but is easily distracted.

Later that day, Papi again makes an attempt to mate, but the sun is beginning to set and it's growing cold.

(upbeat music continues) The next morning, he tries again.

Papi does his best high stepping dance.

(upbeat music continues) For several days, the pair continue in the same manner.

This courtship behavior is a bonding ritual.

And if all conditions are to her liking, she will eventually stay a moment longer.

(plovers chirping) Pippi allows him to mount her.

He dances upon her back in preparation for mating.

What follows is a brief encounter.

The female moves her tail to one side, and the pair's cloacae press together for a second as the male passes sperm to the female.

Avian copulation is referred to as the cloacal kiss.

Pippi has at last chosen a scrape from the many Papi built.

(gentle music) She lays one beautiful speckled egg.

The mating dance continues throughout the egg laying period.

Within a week's time, Pippi has laid four eggs, and the clutch is complete.

Papi and Pippi take turns incubating the eggs, and the nest exchange takes place frequently throughout the day.

While one sits on the nest, the other is usually off foraging.

The partners communicate constantly and are almost always within earshot of one another.

If a predator is nearby, one pipes loudly for the other to come help protect the eggs.

Now their job is to guard the eggs with all their mini-might.

It's a matter of life or death.

A characteristic behavior of many species of plovers is to feign a broken wing.

The plover will drag its wings and tail feathers on the ground, faking injury and leading the predator away from nest or chicks.

Piping plovers need not only defend against predators such as hawks, owls, gulls, and crows, but also members of their own kind.

Plovers vie for choice nesting spots, try to steal another's mate, and will even attack a neighbor's chicks.

(amusing music plays) The disputes range from simple skirmishes and standoffs to brutal smackdowns.

Papi and Pippi defend their slice of Moonlight Bay.

Several unhitched adults have arrived on the scene.

They provoke by running in and out of the pair's territory.

And one is even trying to woo Pippi.

She has none of it and fights just as ferociously as Papi to keep the singleton at bay.

The interlopers move on, and the pair resume incubating the eggs.

Further north up the beach, a second pair of piping plovers has set up house.

We'll call the pair North Dad and North Mom.

Tucked behind beach grass, their nest is well concealed.

(gentle music) Watch closely as North Mom lays her first egg.

(gentle music continues) A week goes by, and the pair's clutch is complete, with three well-hidden eggs.

Back at Papi and Pippi's beach house, nearly four weeks have passed.

The pair have tirelessly taken turns sitting on the nest, keeping the developing chicks warm and defending their eggs from all manner of harm.

They can feel the heartbeats inside the eggs growing stronger and sense that today is the day.

We can see movement inside the egg as the chick begins using his sharp egg tooth to peck his way out of the shell.

The hatchling takes its first breath of outside air while still in its egg shell.

(gentle music) Once the eggshell has unzipped, the parent on the nest helps the chick by pulling away the shell.

To crows and gulls, a broken shell left in the nest signals a hatchling meal.

Papi carries off one half of the shell and discards it down the beach.

We catch a brief glimpse of the newly hatched chick.

(gentle music continues) Pippi scoots off with the other half of the eggshell.

Newborns hatch with feathers that are matted wet with fluid, but in no time, the downy soft feathers are dry and fluffy.

Only several hours old, and the hatchling instinctively knows to push up under Papi's and Pippi's wings to keep warm.

A sweet, sleepy chick.

It's almost nightfall, and there are three eggs yet to hatch.

(gentle music continues) Morning finds Papi on the nest, and a second chick has hatched overnight.

Pippi and Papi continue to incubate the remaining eggs, only taking very brief trips to the shoreline for food and for water, while distracting crows and gulls away from the nestlings.

(plover chirping) (plover chirping continues) (gentle music) The third sibling is hatching.

Papi helps the emerging chick.

(gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) Papi incubates the one remaining egg while Mom keeps a watchful eye.

By late afternoon, chick number four has at last hatched.

(gentle music continues) The marshmallow-sized hatchlings are tumbling about, exploring the beach in short trips and then snuggling beneath Mom and Dad.

Piping plover chicks are precocial, which means that shortly after hatching, the bird is fully mobile and can feed itself.

Plover chicks are not fully mature at hatching.

Only weighing about as much as a nickel, they need to tuck under Mom and Dad for warmth, in other words, regulate their temperature externally.

Over the course of the summer, the location of the nest has become a highly trafficked area.

Papi and Pippi sense the hatchlings are not safe.

There is a quieter location set back from the crowds.

The protected area was created for nesting shorebirds.

After the beachgoers have departed for the day, the parents attempt to move the family across the beach.

(soft music) The chicks that hatched earlier ably navigate the landscape, but the newly hatched chick is barely strong enough to travel.

(soft music continues) Papi and Pippi pipe softly to the newborn, coaxing him along.

Did all the siblings make it to their new home base?

(soft music continues) Four chicks present and accounted for.

(soft music continues) Neighborhood kids give names to the four siblings, and they are Peep, Piper, PuffPuff, and Popcorn.

Miniature marshmallows zoom around the beach.

The freshly minted chicks are healthy, vigorous, and ably feeding themselves.

(soft music continues) They stretch their tiny wing buds.

What are these things called wings?

Papi and Pippi are given plenty of reason to panic as the babes begin foraging outside protected areas.

The chicks do not always listen to the parent's piping commands.

You can see that one-day-old Popcorn has not yet lost his egg tooth at the tip of his beak.

This special tooth will fall off after the first day.

Papi and Pippi pipe often within the vicinity of the nest.

Popcorn began chirping shortly before he hatched, and from the moment after hatching, Mom and Dad are in constant communication with the chicks.

Their vocalizations vary widely, from gently encouraging melodious peeps to urgent repetitious commands.

(plover screeching) (plover screeching continues) A dog runs through the nesting area while nearby crows and gulls scavenge the beach.

Papi and Pippi must leave the chicks unprotected while they distract the dog and give chase to the crows.

(crow cawing) (plover chirping) Papi returns.

Calm is restored.

Tumbles of dried beach grass and seaweed, carried in with the sea and deposited at the high tide mark, or wrack line, create the ideal insect habitat.

Insects are an important source of food for the growing chicks.

(plovers chirping) (waves lapping) A hatchling's first sips at the water's edge is fraught with danger.

Tiny chicks make a tasty snack for gulls, crows, and even crabs.

The hatchlings are learning to navigate the varied terrain, climbing mini hummocks, falling into divots, zooming through the wrack line, and taking advantage of foxholes.

(beachgoers chattering) Not only do the chicks learn the natural terrain, but also to navigate around beachgoers.

Plovers must feed at the shoreline to survive, precisely at the same area of the beach that people enjoy, too.

(lighthearted music) Plover chicks at this age remind us of toddlers, with indefatigable spirits, high energy, and great appetites.

Following a day of adventuring, the four cotton-ball-sized babes in beach camo are tuckered out and ready to nap.

(lighthearted music) Pippi, Papi, and the four chicks have gained the nickname the Clam Family for the myriad ways in which they utilize Atlantic surf clams.

The shells provide welcome camouflage.

From an avian predator's overhead point of view, piping plovers look similar to a clam shell.

(lighthearted music) Every day, the developing chicks visibly grow stronger, taller, a little rounder, and astonishingly, a little faster.

(waves lapping) Papi and Pippi do their best to watch over all four chicks as they spread far and wide in all directions, from the dunes to the shoreline.

(dramatic music) But all is not going well for Papi and Pippi's northern neighbors.

Hungry crows, gulls, and a peregrine falcon are harassing the family.

(North Dad chirps) North Dad sounds the alarm.

A herring gull swoops in and tries to steal a chick.

The parents give chase to save the little one.

The gull has dropped the chick, and North Dad is mortally wounded.

(dramatic music) (waves lapping) North Mom struggles alone to protect her two chicks that survived the attack.

(plovers chirping) The North Family chicks begin heading southward down the beach, foraging closer and closer to Papi and Pippi's brood.

(soft music) It's extraordinarily rare for nesting parents to tolerate the chicks of another plover's brood, and they are usually rejected.

Pippi and Papi accept the chicks.

They begin nestling all six.

Our blended Clam Family has become a plover ponderance of eight.

(soft music continues) Peep, Piper, PuffPuff, Popcorn, and new siblings, Pinky and Penelope, are spreading their winglets.

From the very first day of a chick's life, they begin stretching their developing wing muscles.

Not yet fully formed, nonetheless, they take tiny leaps off the ground in preparation for flying.

New attention is paid to their developing wings.

Pippi shows Peep how to wash his wings.

Zing zang, aflutter and aflap, Piper hip hops across the beach and is not quite ready for lift-off.

Pippi and Papi keep the chicks safe, are always nearby to defend against predators, and thermo-snuggling all six chicks.

(plovers chirping) Fully adhering to Mama and Papa's piping calls is an important milestone in a chick's development.

The parents continuously pipe directions and warnings.

During these early weeks, the chick's best defenses against danger are its abilities to blend with its surroundings and to respond to Mom and Dad's piping commands.

As we have seen, piping plovers begin foraging when only hours old.

They eat freshwater, land, and marine invertebrates.

(upbeat music) Their varied diet consists of insects, both alive and dead, including ants, spiders, grasshoppers, crickets, Lepidoptera, and beetles, along with larvae such as fly larvae.

When foraging at the intertidal zone, piping plovers find tiny mollusks, crustaceans, and a great variety of sea worms.

As the plovers develop, they learn how to do a sort of foot trembling technique, where they rapidly shake their feet in the sand to stir up invertebrates.

(upbeat music continues) The older the chick, the larger the prey.

The chick is persistent and will eat in several beak-fulls.

"Hey, sister, come back with my catch!"

(beachgoers chattering) By early July, the beach has become packed sardine-like with people.

Papi and Pippi have discovered where there is more easily accessed food.

The parents call the chicks to order, and the family makes a dash to the creek.

(upbeat music) Mom and Dad fly to an uninhabited tidal island that appears to be a safe place to forage.

Papi urges the chicks to join him.

They can't yet fly.

How will they get to the island?

It's most uncommon, but they are swimming.

Papi encourages the chicks remaining on the beach.

Without webbed feet, they paddle a mile a minute to keep afloat.

One-by-one, the youngsters cross the fast-moving stream and safely make it to the island.

After spending the day dining on fat, juicy sea worms, the chicks swim back across to the creek shore.

(upbeat music continues) Mom beckons the chicks to follow her back to the front beach.

(upbeat music continues) By day's end, the six siblings have returned to home base and are snuggling beneath Dad's wings.

(upbeat music fades) Our plucky plovers are growing, daily becoming more independent.

(feet stepping in sand) Throughout the day, they do their zany zing-zang-up-down-sideways zig-zag mini flight tests.

Soon, little chicks, soon.

(plovers chirping) Papi and Pippi continue to stay nearby and also watch from a distance.

When danger arises, the parents pipe loudly and steadily, commanding the youngsters to remain in place.

(plovers chirping) Papi suddenly begins urgently piping.

A red fox is spotted hunting in the dunes and heading towards the family's home base.

Papi sets out in full protective mode.

(dramatic music) Any creature canid, whether dog, fox, or coyote, is a threat to nesting shorebirds.

A dog may inadvertently step on a young chick.

(dog barking) Dogs have been allowed by their owners to chase after shorebirds for sport.

Hungry to feed their growing pups and kits, coyote and red fox scavenge the beach for shorebird eggs and chicks.

A piping plover cannot tell the difference between a fox, a domestic dog, or a coyote.

Even the smallest and the most gentle of pets is perceived a threat.

While the plover parent distracts the canid, chicks are left unattended and in even graver danger from crow, gull, and falcon attacks.

Although the muted sandy shades of the plover's feathers blend seamlessly with the surrounding beach habitat, camouflage alone is not enough to keep the birds safe.

The ability to fly to escape predators is an important milestone in a chick's development.

Fledgling is another name used to describe a bird that is learning to fly.

Even though at weeks three and four, fledglings can manage a brief flight, they are unable to sustain any distance and are still in danger.

At five weeks old, the chicks are able to fly.

(gentle music) See how the chick's wings have developed in only five weeks, from teeny wing buds to fully feathered appendages.

(gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (waves lapping) The magnificent migratory movement of wildlife occurs twice yearly, and piping plovers are only one of hundreds of species that migrate along the four North American flyways, the Atlantic, Mississippi, Central, and Pacific Flyways.

Rhythms of earth and sky are in synchronicity once again.

Shortened days of sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere urge the birds to begin their journey south.

Like many inlets and wetlands along the southward route, Moonlight Bay provides safe harbor for countless species of shorebirds and seabirds.

Some have journeyed thousands of miles, from as far away as the Arctic tundra, with still thousands of miles left to travel.

The birds will rest and refuel at Moonlight Bay before heading to the next stopover.

Seaweed washed ashore from late summer storms provides a feast of invertebrates for migrating gulls and shorebirds.

It's not uncommon to see traveling willets, semipalmated plovers, ruddy turnstones, black-bellied plovers, sanderlings, and sandpipers on the shores of Moonlight Bay.

It won't be long now before the Clam Family is winging off to their wintering grounds.

Their tiny wings beat millions of times to reach the first important staging area.

From tracking birds that have been banded, we know that many North Atlantic coast piping plovers first travel to North Carolina's Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout National Seashore barrier beaches.

Piping plovers will stage on the vast tidal flats an average of 30 days, feeding on a diet rich in sea-life protein.

(waves lapping) After departing North Carolina's Outer Banks, migrating plovers continue on to wintering sites in the southeastern US and to islands in the North Caribbean, including the Bahamas, Cuba, and Turks and Caicos.

Piping plovers that nest in the prairie, plains, and Great Lakes regions spend the winter months at inlets and beaches along the Gulf Coast and Southern Atlantic states.

Southward migrating birds often travel at night and fly when the winds are light.

Because low pressure systems spin counter-clockwise, migrants in late summer often move after a low front passes, helped along by favorable southerly winds.

Extraordinary weather events, such as catastrophic hurricanes caused by a warming climate, can push endangered species over the brink.

The maiden voyage of the chicks is the most dangerous.

(waves lapping) Storm surges, high winds, and wave action destroy overdeveloped coastline and wetland habitats.

Shorebirds and songbirds expend a great deal of energy battling the winds and may be blown far off course.

Songbirds have it a little easier, because their toes instinctively tighten around a perch, but shorebirds are the most exposed.

Beachgoers often urge plover monitors and town officials to remove protected areas too early.

While fledglings are learning to fly, they are still very vulnerable.

Piping plover families maintain a loose association for an undetermined amount of time.

Some families begin to disperse early, with only the adult male remaining to raise the chicks.

Other families wait till all the chicks are fully fledged.

Big chicks like to snuggle, too.

The Clam Fam fledglings are thriving, daily growing stronger and adding to their fat reserves, which they will need before undertaking the long journey to their wintering grounds.

Peep, Piper, PuffPuff, Popcorn, Pinky, and Penny are gaining confidence in their flying abilities.

(gentle music) The fledgling's days have taken on a self-reliant routine, forage, sleep, stretch, practice flying, check in with Papi and Pippi.

At first light on a mid-summer morn, the Clam Fam is foraging at the water's edge when, without much ado, they take flight over the water to begin their southward journey.

Their voyage is long for such tiny birds.

Safe travels, Clam Fam.

Early mornings are eerily quiet without the penny whistle piping of the plovers.

Piping plovers are a bellwether species that indicate how successfully wildlife and people interact with one another.

They are remarkably resilient birds and well adapted to life on the beach.

However, without adequately protecting their habitat, plovers will fail in the face of pressure created by humans.

(gentle music) The Atlantic Coast population of plovers are both state and federally listed as threatened, while the Great Lakes population is at even greater risk.

The Great Lakes' plovers are on the endangered species list.

Facing formidable challenges at every stage of development, the Clam Family persevered.

Typically, only one to two chicks survive per nesting pair, whereas Papi and Pippi raised six chicks to fledge.

(waves lapping) The chronicles of Pippi and Papi continue.

The following year, on the first day of spring, Papi and Pippi return to Moonlight Bay.

Plovers show tremendous fidelity to nesting sites.

(plover chirps) The lovebirds build a nest scrape only several feet from the previous year's nest.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) The pair raise four plucky plover fledglings.

But that is still not the end of our story.

On a hot summer afternoon, while the Clam Fam fledglings are lazing in the shade, Papi begins courting Pippi all over again.

(playful music) Papi calls Pippi over to join him, and they are mating.

Where does this mid-summer courtship lead?

Papi returns from foraging, and we can see there are two eggs in the nest.

By week's end, there are three.

Pippi and Papi have a technique for incubating the eggs in hot weather.

Rather than sitting low on the nest to keep the eggs warm, they fluff out their feathers and sit high, allowing cooler air to circulate.

(gentle music) At dawn on the morning of the 25th day, Pippi is on the nest, and she is unusually active.

(gentle music continues) The following morning finds the chicks exploring their new surroundings and nestling beneath the safe haven that is Papi and Pippi's wings.

Several days pass, when a violent storm whips up the coast.

(wind howling) Fierce winds and wild waves batter the coastline.

A tiny chick is lost.

Pippi is spooked after a terrifying night of fireworks.

She departs, leaving Papi alone to raise the five-day-old hatchlings.

Along the way, the siblings pick up their nicknames, Spanky and Spunky.

Dad watches over Spanky and Spunky and gives them plenty of thermo-snuggles.

Males are superheroes in the life story of the piping plover.

They are often the first to arrive in the spring to establish the nesting territory, and the last to leave, but only after the fledglings can care for themselves.

Plover dads are fierce defenders of their family.

Between predators, human caused disturbances, and danger from competing males, it's not easy being a plover dad.

(soft music) The little family forms a unit of three.

(soft music continues) By the time they are six-weeks-old, Spanky and Spunky will be ready to begin their southward migration.

Bon voyage and safe travels, little plovers.

You will be missed.

(crickets chirping) (gentle music) The piping plovers' annual return to their summer breeding home is cause for celebration that many have come to look forward to.

Plovers have been brought back from the brink of extinction by years of dedicated work from conservation organizations and individuals.

People help protect plovers in a variety of ways.

Garbage attracts a slew of creatures that eat plovers.

A number of communities have a carry in, carry out policy that not only protects the environment, but also helps keep nesting shorebirds safe from predators.

Beachgoers stay out of sand dunes to allow beach grass and other native plants to flourish, thereby providing a safe haven for wildlife.

Along with fortifying beaches against rising sea level.

Many communities have ceased raking the beach with large machinery during Plover nesting season.

Raking the beach removes a vital food source, and machines can scoop up and kill chicks that can't yet fly to escape danger.

Beach communities are becoming better at regulating activities that terrify nesting birds, including flying drones, driving off road vehicles on the beach and fireworks.

Wildlife monitors place protective structures over plover nests that look like cages.

The wire holes of the exclosure are large enough to allow the Plovers to run through, but small enough to keep pets, predators, and stray balls out.

Teams of conservation biologists cordon off areas, installing roping and informational signage.

These protective measures alert beachgoers to the presence of Plovers.

In one way or another, the trail as to why these tender yet irrepressible birds are a species of great conservation concern leads to the heavy footprint left by humankind.

We have begun to reconsider how we think about our beaches.

Sharing the shore is critical to the very survival of not only the highly vulnerable piping plover, but all wildlife that finds food and shelter at the edge of the sea.

The majority of bird species nests far away in the wilderness of the great north or in a leafy tree.

We are sublimely fortunate for the opportunity to witness the beautiful life story of the piping plovers unfold along the shores of Moonlight Bay.

The lengthening days of late winter once again call migratory species of birds to begin their northward journey.

Piping plovers join the stream of migratory creatures seeking an abundance of food and a safe place to nest and to rear their young.

With protections, they will thrive.

We hope to see Pippi, Papi, and plover offspring at Moonlight Bay for many more years to come.

("On Moonlight Bay") We were sailing along Let's go to the beach!

("Perfect Wave")