Jessica Moran, Thomas P. Hughes School
Union County
Piping Plover. Union County Jessica Moran
Piping Plover
Hi! I am a Piping Plover and one of the endangered species whose life cycle is threatened by the fact that humans use my beaches for recreation. We are only 18 cm tall so we are very tiny birds. The New Jersey shore and coastal region are the prime areas for my nesting sites but humans keep interrupting our community by building jetties and seawalls for their pleasure with no regard for us. Humans also bother us and take our nesting eggs and we never get to see our babies being born.
Our favorite nesting places are barrier islands and ocean front beaches between the dunes and the high tide lines. Our diet depends on the healthy marine life. Our dinner includes a feast of marine invertebrates, small crustaceans and mollusks. Sometimes we will eat insects and beetles. Our best meals come from the sea. We mostly feed during the day. I hope you will remember this and help prevent pollution of the shore waters.
Our species depends on humans to protect our nesting areas and I hope they will continue to fence off restricted areas. If they do, we can have a safe breeding portion of the beach for our young to grow healthy and survive. I need you to help me teach the beachgoers to “share the shore” so me and my whole species can survive.
I am counting on you to help my species to survive these hard times. Please follow a few cautious rules to preserve our environment where I raise my young ones and nest the new generation of piping plovers. Thank you for listening to me and helping us out in any way you can.
Written by: Jessica Moran
Thomas P. Hughes School
Teacher: Ms. Chrobok