Audubon Plover Heroes

Long Island is a crucial nesting area for Piping Plover, supporting roughly 20% of the Atlantic Coast breeding population. Kerri Dikun, Audubon New York's Long Island Bird Conservation Coordinator, is a lifeline for these threatened birds.

North Carolina native Walker Golder traded his surf board for binoculars when he began protecting shorebirds.  Stuck in the middle of a bitter fight over land use on Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Piping Plovers need every advocate they can get and Golder has become their champion.

In 2011 a pair of Piping Plovers nested at Shoreline Park on the coast of Lake Huron in Michigan.  Peggy Ridgway, Chapter Leader for AuSable Valley Audubon, worked with partners like the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service leading an effort to protect the nest.

Wilson’s Plovers are declining at a rate of 5% a year, leaving only 3,000 pairs in North America. Two thirds of those birds live on the Gulf Coast and a team of three is leading the charge to protect them.

Every winter 200-350 Snowy Plovers spend the season in Los Angeles County, but since 1949 not a single nest has been reported in the area. Stacey Vigallon hopes to change that.

Little is known about the elusive Mountain Plover.  Andrea Jones knows that in order to protect these birds scientists must first learn more about their migration patterns and winter habitat needs.  After two state-wide surveys in California she's still got questions but she's getting closer to some answers.

You’re never too young to be a bird lover or a plover hero. Nine-year-old John Brice has been making a difference for shorebirds since he was four. 

In 2006 Matt Jeffery helped uncover one of migration's enduring mysteries--where Piping Plovers spend the winter. As Senior Program Manager for Audubon's International Alliances Program, Jeffery continues to be instrumental in efforts to turn this new understanding into conservation action.