Officials have counted 90 nesting pairs of endangered Great Lakes piping plovers so far this summer. That's a record high after the endangered species' 1990 low point of only 12 nesting pairs counted in Michigan.
Charlie Ramsey is curator of birds at the Detroit Zoo. He said the recovery effort originated with University of Minnesota Biology Professor Francesca Cuthbert, and now involves the zoo's captive rearing program alongside scores of researchers, agencies, and volunteers to protect the wild birds' habitat and nests.
The chicks are also adorable fluffballs, which Ramsey said increases public awareness.
"It certainly helps, for sure, it's hard to go on any social media bird account and not see piping plover chicks just because they are so cute."
Great Lakes Piping Plover nesting pairs can now be found in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Ontario, in addition to Michigan.
Great Lakes Piping Plovers only breed on the sandy, low-vegetation shorelines of the Great Lakes. Even at their peak, that restricted habitat kept their numbers low, to about 800 nesting pairs of birds. They overwinter primarily on the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia.
