I’m happy to announce that the endangered piping plover shorebirds (Charadrius melodus) have nested for the first time in 49 years in Superior, Wisconsin. This culminates years of habitat restoration work by many groups, including the St. Louis River Alliance, which I worked for in the past. I wrote the first grant to receive funding for this work, but I left the Alliance for my Sea Grant job before I could see the results come to fruition.
I took what I learned through that experience and applied it to my second eco-mystic-romance novel, Plover Landing. The book tells the story of Melora, who is fighting to save the habitat of these birds on the shores of Lake Superior. It was published in 2014.
In Plover Landing, the birds nest on Minnesota Point, but in recent reality, they nested in a bird sanctuary on Wisconsin Point. We’d often had reports of single plovers passing through on migration, but this time, a male and female plover must have been passing through at the same time and decided to make a go of it.
Alas, their nesting efforts were not successful, but natural resource managers hope they might return next spring and try again. Here’s a link to a good Wisconsin Public Radio story about the topic.
I am so excited to see the situation I dreamed of in my novel burst into reality! And I’m happy that these adorable birds are making a comeback.
If you’re interested in my books, please check out my Books page. And if you live in the Twin Ports, be sure to visit my booth at Chester Bowl Fall Fest in Duluth on September 19th. I’ll be selling and autographing books along with local poet Stanley Kusunoki.
Splendid! This is great news.
Good both for the environment and for the plovers!
Great news, Marie!
I’m so happy for the plovers!
Great news about the comeback of the “adorable” birds. And good luck with your book signing.
Thanks, Diana!
I love it. Hopefully, the plovers will have continued success!
I hope so, too. The only thing better than having a nesting pair is having a pair with chicks!
I love a good come-back story! Especially for the birds.
It’s taken a long time and a lot of money, but slowly, they’re recovering!
Can’t remember if I already invited you, but if I have, your lovely writing & site bear repeating. I would be thrilled if you’d write a guest blog post for my site. If you think it might be fun or helpful to have my followers (who total about 10k across my various social media) meet you, here’s the link for general guidelines:
Thanks for the invite. You already featured me in Jan 2024. (Putting the Happy back in New Years). I’ll let someone else have that honor now.
ooooh you are so right! sorry to have forgotten! whelp, the offer still stands – you would not be the first to be a guest more than once
Fabulous! Makes my heart happy!!!
Seeing a species recover is always good…