I photographed Piping Plover 3N5 on the West End of Jones Beach State Park on April 11, 2024 and Michael Farina, head biologist and superintendent of the Oceanside Marine Study Area filed a request to obtain the date of tagging.
Virginia Tech Plover confirmed the Piping Plover was banded as a pre-fledged chick on Robert Moses State Park on June 6, 2019.
A tear came to my eye when I read the email, I did not know something so small could survive 5 years in the environment we have destroyed for them. The Piping Plover was almost 5 years old and within 15 miles of the nest.
Google - Data on the breeding behavior of piping plovers shows that some adults return to the same nesting area annually and may retain the same mate as well.
Google - Although piping plovers have been documented to live as long as 11 years, we estimate that with a 78 to 80% adult survival rate, the average life span is approximately five to six years,
So now I got to see exactly what the banding efforts are designed to produce.
