HOWARD, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Scientists are tracking nesting grounds of a small endangered bird as surging water levels from the Great Lakes continue to rise.
The Piping Plover has found a seasonal home on the Cat Island Restoration Project, just north of Green Bay.
It stands only about seven inches tall, and can dart across the sandy landscape of McKloskey Island with ease.
“At Cat Island, it’s been a record year. We’ve had five nests. That’s the most nests we’ve had since they started nesting in 2016,” said Reena Bowman, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Biologist.
The Piping Plover is a federally-listed endangered species, but has found prime habitat at the man-made Cat Island Restoration Project in the waters of Lower Green Bay. The chicks are only a couple weeks old. Scientists put leg bands on the Plovers as well.
“That kind of helps us keep track of individual birds and keep track of them in their wintering ground. And helps us kind of keep track of where their population is,” said Bowman.
But tracking the birds can be challenging. Nesting sites are getting smaller, and at Cat Island, scientists have to cross a causeway that’s been underwater for about six weeks. According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Lake Michigan levels for the month of June are now above the record set in 1986.
“Water levels come up and down daily out here. Just a few inches but these northeast wind events really amplify a lot of that water level change,” said Josh Martinez, DNR Wildlife Biologist
Martinez says those rising levels impact animal life on the bay.
“The wave events have really done some damage out there on just some nesting of a lot of colonial waterbirds on Lone Tree. Cat Island, the wave events haven’t really done much. It’s just the high water on Cat Island has contributed to make that island smaller,” he said.
Back on McKloskey Island, Reena Bowman says higher levels haven’t reached these Piping Plover nests yet.
“The habitat looks great right now. We got plenty of space for some additional pairs if the population keeps going,” she said.
It is important to note the Cat Island Chain is an active dredging site, and the causeway is closed to the general public.
A new report Friday from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says all of the Great Lakes are at their highest water levels-ever for June.
Lakes Michigan and Huron are one inch higher than the previous record set in 1986.
Lake Michigan is 32 inches higher than the long-term June average.
The report also says that the Corps predicts water levels will rise another inch into July.
It cites persistent wet conditions as the cause.
