By the early 1980's, habitat loss, human disturbance, and increasing predator populations combined to make the beaches of the Great Lakes unsuitable for nesting by the piping plover. The entire region contained only 16 nesting pairs when the species was placed under the protection of the Endangered Species Act in 1985, and after 1984 the species completely disappeared from Lake Ontario except during migration. Thanks in large part to conservation efforts led by Dr. Francie Cuthbert at the University of Minnesota, there are now 70 nesting pairs in the Great Lakes and piping plovers are starting to expand into deserted portions of their former range. In 2015, for the first time in 31 years, piping plovers nested on the shores of Lake Ontario. Under the protection of the New York DEC, two eggs hatched at the eastern end of the Lake and one of the young survived the dangerous 25 days from hatching until first flight. At the invitation of Dr. Cuthbert and the DEC, Dr. Cohen and members of his lab placed colored legbands on the chicks. We will now be able to identify the fledgling when, hopefully, it has a nest of its own. In this way, the growth of the recovering Great Lakes population can be tracked and further opportunities to protect habitat can be identified.
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