BORX and his Neighbors

BORX on the beach where he's nested since 1997.

By Alice VanZoeren

On April 11, 2006 one of Benzie county's long-time "snowbirds" returned from his winter on the gulf coast of Texas to spend the summer at his beach property in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. This wouldn't be remarkable except that this "snowbird" really is a 1.9oz bird - an endangered Piping Plover. He makes the long trip to south Texas and back each year under his own power. BORX, as we know him, for the Blue, Orange, Red and metal ("X") bands he wears on his legs, was hatched on North Manitou Island in 1994. If he returns again this year he will be 13, a very old man in the Plover world.

A male Piping Plover scrapes out a hollow for a nest by kicking backwards with his feet.

In 1997 he established a territory at Platte Point and has returned there every year since to scrape out a small depression in the cobble for the eggs that his mate will lay.

Plover eggs are very well camouflaged among the rocks on the beach.

BORX was joined by the same female to raise a family for many of those years. She didn’t return in 2005 and he has had to find new mates the past two years. BORX and his mates, like all Piping Plovers, take turns incubating their four well-camouflaged eggs for approximately 28 days.

gOOX with a one-day-old chick in 2005.

When the chicks hatch they begin running and feeding themselves within hours. Now the parents’ jobs become brooding to keep the chicks warm and guarding them. They take turns watching the feeding chicks and trying to protect them from dangers such as crows, gulls, dogs, cats, and people. The tiny chicks are sand-colored and can quickly seem to disappear by squatting and holding still. Humans, with their large feet, can easily step on them.

One-day old chicks in the captive rearing facility at the University of Michigan Biological Station.

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore has the largest concentration of Piping Plover nests in the Great Lakes. The park participates in the Piping Plover Recovery project with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the University of Michigan Biological Station, the University of Minnesota, and other agencies. Staff members protect the nests with wire fences that allow the parent birds to move feely through, but keep out larger predators. They keep track of the nesting adults and their chicks and put colored bands on them so that individuals can be recognized and monitored throughout their lives. The data that is collected helps to protect the birds and their habitat.

Last summer BORX lost his mate to a predator. Single Plovers seldom are able to incubate and raise chicks alone. If eggs are abandoned because of disturbance near the nest or the death of one of the parents, they are brought to the University of Michigan biological station near Pellston to be incubated and raised by volunteer zoo-keepers who come from zoos nationwide. When the chicks are independent they are released near other Piping Plovers of the same age. All four of BORX’s chicks survived and were released near Wilderness State Park. One captive-raised chick has been breeding successfully at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore since 2004.

BORX's son on the shore where he has nested since 2004.

In mid-July the Piping Plovers begin their travels south to the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. First the females form flocks and leave. Then in late July and August, when the chicks can fly, the males and chicks will follow. Our beaches have been empty of Plovers since then. Now that April has come, those of us who know them are excitedly and anxiously awaiting the return of BORX and his neighbors.

4/15/07 Update: Piping Plovers began returning to Sleeping Bear Dunes on April 10th this year -- just in time for more snow. The snow didn't seem to bother them. So far two males and one female have come back. BORX hasn't been seen yet.

Alice Van Zoeren, (B.S. Natural History Education, University of Michigan School of Natural Resources) is a local free-lance naturalist and researcher with a particular focus on birds but with wide ranging natural history interests. She works for the Great Lakes Piping Plover Research and Recovery Project at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, monitoring and helping to protect endangered Piping Plovers. She also teaches nature classes through NMC extended education and at Glen Lake Schools covering such topics as birds, orienteering, and animal tracking and is a volunteer docent with the Leelanau Conservancy. More information is available at her website: http://www.sandhillnature.com/.

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BORX and his Neighbors

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