2022 Captive-reared chick now in FL

The 2022 Captive-reared chick (Of,bG:X,L/O/L) that was featured in this blog on August 2nd is now in southwest Florida. On August 2nd it was seen on Topsail Island, NC and until September 22nd we had gotten no further reports. Filomena and Joe Cardinale, volunteers at the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, found and photographed it on a small island in Collier county, FL and reported their sighting to plover@umn.edu. Reports like theirs help us to better understand the lives and needs of Great Lakes Piping Plovers and allow us to better protect them.

Filomena and Joe report that "this little Piping Plover was quite healthy and pugnacious. It chased away Semipalmated Plovers and Sanderlings as it was foraging for food on the mud flats."

So far this is the only one of the ten chicks that were raised in captivity in 2022 that has been reported on a wintering territory. We're looking forward to hearing about others.

You can learn more about out captive-rearing program here.

There is currently a potential hurricane developing in the Caribbean that may threaten this plover's location next week. Hopefully it will be able to get out of harm's way before the storm.