Broadcasting in our monthly PBS television program, The Catch is a Great Lakes Now series that brings you more news about the lakes you love. Go beyond the headlines with reporters from around the region who cover the lakes and drinking water issues. Find all the work HERE.
This month, The Catch features a story about Great Lakes piping plovers.
Michigan Radio’s Briana Rice has some good news about these endangered birds. In 2022, there were 150 fledglings born to 72 breeding pairs around the Great Lakes. That’s the biggest brood of fledglings since Great Lakes piping plovers were listed as federally endangered in 1986. Of the Great Lakes region’s 72 breeding pairs, 48 were in Michigan, and Michigan’s nests produced a record number of chicks.
Rice says researchers and conservationists have played a big role in the comeback.
“The real hope is to get back to the heyday of 200, 300 breeding pairs in parents,” she said.
Catch more news at Great Lakes Now:
The Catch: Why lightning bug population is dimming
The Catch: Tracking bird migration at Toronto’s accidental wilderness
Featured image: Piping plovers (Great Lakes Now Episode 1026)
