This means that unless factors causing its population decline are reversed, the species will become endangered, and could eventually become extinct. Predation threats facing the Great Plains population stem from many sources and are not clearly understood. Typically, plovers lay four eggs, and incubate them for 28 days. Often a ground squirrel may sneak away an egg, or a coyote or fox may destroy all eggs or even small chicks. Large gulls can terrorize breeding pairs, causing them to abandon their territory.
Crows are also effective predators of eggs and small chicks.
Although plovers may nest again if their eggs are destroyed, young from late nestings typically do not survive to fledging nearly as well as those from first nests initiated in early to mid-May. Karen Smith, manager at Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge, was one of the first in the Great Plains to try to reduce predation on plover eggs and young. She refined some techniques and tried them locally at Lostwood, but a broader, random application was needed to formally test the methods. Permanent electric fences had been used successfully by Dr. Mark Ryan and co-workers to keep predators away from plover nests at The Nature Conservancy's Williams Preserve in McLean County. However, a temporary fence that could be easily removed at the end of a nesting season would have greater potential on most privately-owned lands, and where water levels change dramatically from year to year.