FALMOUTH, Maine - This was a good year for endangered piping plovers in Maine. The nests of the tiny shore birds are small divots in the sand, which make them very vulnerable to predators, including pets.
In Maine plovers are found on beaches along the southern coast. Maine Audubon Wildlife Ecologist Laura Minich Zitske says this year there were 50 pairs of plovers nesting on southern Maine beaches, which she says is the most in more than a decade.
Zitske says another number biologists look at to determine how the species is doing is the number of fledglings - chicks which have learned to fly.
"This year we had 97 fledglings in the state of Maine, which is the third highest that we've had since we've been monitoring, since 1981," Zitske says, "and it's the highest number we've had since 2000."
Minich Zitske says the strong numbers are the result of hard work by a lot of people, such as volunteer monitors who walk the beaches and educate people about plovers.
