Great Lakes Piping Plovers (Charadrius melodus: subspecies C. m. circumcinctus) are endangered, and rescuing abandoned eggs is a small but vital part of the recovery effort. Since 1992, piping plover eggs that have been washed away or abandoned are rushed to the University of Michigan’s Biological Station in Pellston, MI, where they are incubated and reared by a zookeeper overseen by the Detroit Zoo in a safe and quiet environment. A heat lamp coupled with a feather duster provides comfort to the newly hatched chicks while they brood. Chicks are introduced outdoors gradually, and a flight pen constructed partly on Douglas Lake and partly on the shoreline allows the chicks’ final preparation for release. In the flight pen, they can stretch their wings, fly short distances and learn to forage along the natural shoreline. When the chicks fledge, they are transported to Great Lakes shorelines near plover families with similar-age chicks and released alongside wild plover chicks so they can assimilate with a wild cohort.
