NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS PIPING PLOVERS NEST SUCCESSFULLY ON THE EASTERN SHORES OF LAKE ONTARIO

摘要

A pair of Piping Plovers (Charadrius melodus) successfully nested on the eastern edge of Lake Ontario in 2015. This represents the first nesting in New York State away from the immediate marine coastline in 30 years. In total, five Piping Plovers were observed on these shores during summer 2015. Piping Plovers, which are listed as state and federally endangered, breed farther west on the Great Lakes (www.fws.gov/midwest/Endangered/pipingplover/index.html), so the nesting we report represents a substantial eastward extension of their current range. The number of nesting plovers on the Great Lakes has risen from 12 pairs in 1990 to 75 pairs in 2015, but all of these were located west of Wasaga Beach, Ontario (Francie Cuthbert, personal communication).