The parents also may act as if they have a broken wing to draw the attention of an intruder away from the chicks. After 30-35 days, the young are ready to fly. Only one in five piping plovers reaches the age of five years. Some may live longer, however, as evidenced by one bird that was banded, released, then recaptured 14 years later. Please click button for a map of the historic breeding range of the piping plover.
Distribution Piping plovers inhabit shorelines of lakes, rivers and oceans.
They breed along the western Atlantic Coast from Newfoundland to North Carolina, around the Great Lakes and on the northern Great Plains. In Wisconsin, the only breeding pairs in recent years have occurred along the shores of Lake Superior. Plovers winter along the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico, the southern Atlantic states, the Bahamas and the West Indies. They migrate alone or in small groups of five to six. A map outlining Pre-1977 and 1997 to Present Distribution is available.