To report a banded Piping Plover email your information to plover@umn.edu . Within a week you will receive a personal message with information about the plover you observed.

The critical pieces of information needed to make your observation useful are:

•   A description or photo of the band locations and colors on the bird’s left and right legs. Note if you saw either alpha-numeric codes or colored dots on any bands or flags.

•   A description of the location of your observation including the state and, if possible, the county.

•   The date of your observation.

In addition it’s very helpful to include:

•   GPS coordinates for the location (these can be closely estimated from google earth if you don’t have a GPS unit available.)

•   Digital photographs of the plover. These are very useful when they’re available.  The most reliable reports include both a description and a photograph. If you send a photo please let us know if we have permission use it to post on this site, on our FaceBook page, and in other ways to benefit Piping Plover conservation. Also let us know how you'd like the photo credited. 

•   Comments about behavior, weather, and plumage (breeding/non- breeding/molting) or anything else unusual or interesting…