Friday Plover Update

Bad news.  Carol Cooper reports that as of late last week the Piping Plovers have not been seen at Muskegon State Park.  The three babies disappeared, Dad stuck around for awhile, but now he's gone too.

There is one silver lining: Back when the mother plover disappeared, three of the four eggs had hatched and the father was spending his time caring for the fledglings rather than sitting on the last egg.  So the authorities took that egg to the biological research station where it hatched successfully.  The plan to bring that fledgling back here to grow up with its family is no longer possible, so that youngster will be taken to another site further north and left in the care of plovers currently raising their own family.

- Ric