The Forestry Forum

After evaluating extensive comments received from the public, the U.S.Fish & Wildlife Service today designated approximately 201 miles of mainland and island shoreline in eight Great Lakes States as critical habitat for endangered breeding populations of piping plover, a small shorebird.

Ron, though we don't have Plover, we do spend a lot of time in our mill yard trying to protect our Killdeer friends, I think a close relative.  We usually mark the eggs, and do our best at deferting trucks and other mill traffic away from them.

It really makes you wonder about some birds and their nest building. Some birds build condos and other birds just move some gravel or sand and a couple of sticks and wa-la a nest.

I do like the broken wing walk that they do to try and lure you away from their nest. Sure side tracked me away from it. Went back and put an orange cone beside it to keep from driving over it.

Gordon

A couple of years ago a killdeer layed eggs in my vacant lot next to my home. I just happened to see the eggs when mowing. so I marked the area and stayed away. It was fun watching the male and female take turns on the nest. And fun watching them do the broken wing "poor me" dance when I got to close. The eggs hatched when I was at worked and I later found that the neighbors lab squashed one of the chicks with his foot.  There are a lot of killdeer in our area, but that will be changing soon as the farm across the street is turning into a development of 250 houses. :-/

I spent a couple hours talking to a DNR officer from the east end of the U.P. Saturday night. He had just gotten off a days patrol of the piping plover nesting area. The area is barracaded at opposite ends of the beach. Some fool hooked on to one of the barricades, pulled it down, then proceeded to run up and down the beach with his vehicle. The officer did not mention finding any dead birds as they have already hatched. But if they had, its to late in the year to renest.