Gillian Schwesinger, Reverend Brown School
Sussex County
Piping plover. Sussex County. Gillian SchwesingerPiping Plover
"Oh, hi there. My name is Charlet. I'm a Charadrius melodus, but you probably know me as the piping plover.
Anyway I'll tell you a little about myself. I live from about 8 to 14 years. I weigh 1.5 to 2.25 ounce, I'm 6 to 7 inches long, and my wingspan is 14 to 15.25 inches. I try to have 2 to 4 babies and 2 to 4 times!!! I eat insects, spiders, and crustaceans. Yummy!! Plus I get my food at high tide.
If you are wondering, I live in a place where you probably go on vacation. It's the seacoast. On isolated, sandy beaches with vegetation and access to mud flats for feeding.
Well let me explain why I am endangered now that you know a little about me. My home has been lost to commercial, residential, and recreational developments. Plus piping plover are sensitive to people’s presence. A lot of disturbance can lead us to abandoning our nests. Sometime people step on our eggs and then they're crushed.
You can save my kind by protecting natural coastal dunes habitats by staying on the boardwalk or trail and do not put up developments where I live.
Written by: Gillian Schwesinger
Reverend Brown School, Sparta
Teacher: Ms. Dempsey