Piping Plover females are the first to leave the Great Lakes and head south, leaving dad to finish raising the chicks.

By Lester Graham, Michigan Public The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes ...

Conservation officials confirmed this year is a record-breaking nesting season for the federally endangered shorebird.

One of the oldest piping plovers at the park, "Gabby" now has raised 37 chicks to flight. She soon will return to Georgia for ...

Overall, there are now 72 breeding pairs of piping plovers in the Great Lakes region, Farkas said, less than half the 150 pairs needed for the birds to be taken off the endangered species list.

The Great Lakes Piping Plover Conservation Team says one of the birds they track has survived another year migrating between Michigan and Florida despite suffering a broken leg.

On a humid July afternoon, two tiny Great Lakes piping plovers step cautiously from a breadbox-sized crate onto the sun-warmed sands of a quiet beach. Just a few feet away, a team of researchers ...

Some of the hottest chicks on Montrose Beach are now named El, Bean and Ferris. Why it matters: The monikers for this third generation of local piping plovers cement their Chicago cred with sly nods ...

Audubon Great Lakes reports 150 chicks have survived the fledgling process, the largest number since the bird was placed on the federal endangered species list in 1986.

The Great Lakes was once the region where hundreds of pairs of piping plovers nested, but that number dropped to 17 in 1986 when the population was listed as endangered.

The federal government stepped in to protect Great Lakes Piping Plovers in the early 2000s, and since then, the shorebirds have shown some signs of a rebound.

The Great Lakes population of piping plovers was listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act on January 10, 1986.