[TN-Bird] Piping Plover seen at South Holston Lake banded in South Dakota

From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 10:48:04 -0400
The Piping Plover found at South Holston Lake in Sullivan Co., 

TN was banded as a chick by researchers from Virginia Tech on 

the Missouri River near Yankton, South Dakota in June of this year 

(2014).

 

Piping Plover at Musick's Campground SH Lake, Sullivan Co., TN 2 September 
2014.jpg

 

This information comes to us through excellent help and 

cooperation provided by some of America’s leading Piping 

Plover researchers.  At the head of that group is Mary Brown 

of the School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska 

at Lincoln.  She stepped up big time and zeroed in on how 

to search for where it was marked.                                          

 

That led us to consult with Dr. Jim Fraser who leads a 

VA Tech faculty team that has received  more than $4 million 

in grants from the U.S. Department of the Interior 

to study various aspects of Piping Plovers in North America.

 

Dr. Fraser had Meryl Friedrich,  a Research Specialist with the 

Virginia Tech Shorebird Program who was in the field, to look up 

the banding record and respond to us.  She thanked us for all

the detailed information we were able to provide.

 

VA Tech Research biologist piping plovers.jpg

 

She earned a B.A. from Denison University, double majoring in 

Biology and Environmental Studies.  Since 2011, her work on 

the Missouri River Piping Plover and Least Tern project has 

included analyzing the mate and site fidelity of Piping Plovers 

on the Missouri River, managing the database, and corresponding 

with people who re-sight color banded plovers on the wintering 

grounds.

 

Dr. Fraser has been studying Piping Plovers since 1968.  His vast

data collection and renowned expertise helped the team secure

funding.  He thanked us for “The great observation. Interesting

location.”  

 

The Virginia Tech Shorebird Program is a consortium of 

conservation biologists in the Virginia Tech Department of Fish 

and Wildlife Conservation.  Although biologists have a variety 

of interests, they share a common goal of conservation of 

coastal wildlife resources through transformational research. 

They work closely with managers and stakeholders to 

provide research that is timely and pertinent to management. 

 

The VT Shorebird Program began in 1985 with a study of 

Piping Plovers on the coasts of Virginia and Maryland. Since 

that time, their biologists have worked up and down the Atlantic 

and Gulf coasts, along the shores of prairie rivers and lakes, and 

internationally in Canada and China, promoting the conservation 

of seabirds and shorebirds through research. They have worked 

with a variety of species, including Piping Plovers, Least Terns, 

Snowy Plovers, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpipers, Red Knots, Common

Terns, Gull-billed Terns, Roseate Terns and Black Skimmers in an

Effort to conserve coastlines and the animals that depend on it.

 

Wallace Coffey

Bristol, TN
[TN-Bird] Piping Plover seen at South Holston Lake banded in South Dakota

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