Division of Fish & Wildlife

Help Protect Endangered Piping Plovers!

Piping Plover Quick Facts

• Dwindling populations have landed the Piping Plovers on the federal Endangered Species List
• Piping Plovers begin arriving and nesting on Delaware's beaches in March.  
• The numbers of nesting Piping Plovers in Delaware has ranged from of a low two pairs to a high of 10 pairs in 2009.
• For the past seven years, all Piping Plover nesting in Delaware has been at Cape Henlopen State Park.

As piping plovers begin arriving in Delaware, the Division monitors their activities.  Areas that the Division has identified as suitable nesting habitat are closed in order to provide disturbance-free zones where the plovers can nest. 

What do volunteers do?

To ensure this continued breeding success, Fish & Wildlife depends on volunteers to help inform the public to stay out of nesting areas. Although closed off by fencing and signs posted against public entry, people still sometimes enter the closed areas. In doing so, they can harm the birds by stepping on eggs and/or chicks. Trespassers can also cause adults to leave nests, and can interrupt feeding efforts. Well-fed, healthy birds have the best chance of survival and reproduction. Volunteers who help to educate the beach-going public can help to prevent disturbance to plover adults and chicks.

Volunteers should be able to walk to monitoring stations on the beach, which can be as far as 1/2-mile away from parking areas. Volunteers will also undergo training for interacting with the public and answering Piping Plover questions. 

To Volunteer

Contact Matt Bailey, Fish and Wildlife Biologist: matthew.bailey@state.de.us or 302-735-8651.  

Piping Plover Chicks - Photo by Victoria Withington