As part of our beach-nesting bird monitoring efforts, BiodiversityWorks staff are always on the lookout for banded birds. Typically, bird bands are imprinted with letter and or number codes specific to an individual bird, and the band re-sight data we collect contributes to researchers’ understanding of species longevity, distribution and migratory movements, and other life history traits. This information is essential in constructing conservation plans for at-risk species.
While band re-sights are important scientifically, they also tell engaging stories. As you accumulate re-sights for the same bird, you gain a better understanding of where that individual bird lives from year to year. One such banded bird we have been following through our re-sights is a piping plover we call “NPT," after the markings on his green leg flag.
We have monitored NPT during each breeding season since 2023, recording many observations of him during this time. NPT was banded by the Virginia Tech Shorebird Program on Ocracoke Island, part of Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina, during southbound migration on August 21, 2022, as an After-Hatch-Year adult (in other words, at least a full year old). Since then, NPT has returned to nest on Dogfish Bar in Aquinnah for three straight years. In 2024, he and his mate managed to hatch and fledge four chicks. This year, thanks to his band, we know he has suffered several losses, and were able to follow his responses to those losses with much more detail than we could with an unbanded bird.
NPT’s 2025 breeding season got off to a dismal start. Despite returning to the same territory where he had previously enjoyed success, his first two nest attempts were lost to predation. After the second nest loss, we stopped seeing NPT and started seeing plovers from other pairs moving freely through his old territory. It was clear NPT had given up on nesting at Dogfish Bar, and we thought we would not see him again this year. Much to our surprise, though, we did! Nine days after our last NPT sighting at Dogfish Bar, we were monitoring another beach 3.5 miles away (as the plover flies). During this site visit, we were excited to find a new plover nest — but we were ecstatic when the incubating adult got up off the nest and showed us his familiar green name tag!
NPT’s story is a great example of the site-switching breeding strategy piping plovers commonly use after nest loss to predation. At Dogfish Bar, he had enjoyed a multi-year stretch with little predation. But this year he was not so lucky. Normally, when we stop seeing pairs in their original territory we assume they’ve left to try again elsewhere. But we are rarely able to relocate them and follow their nest success after they leave. Thanks to his individualized band plus a little bit of luck, we were able to capture this information for NPT this year. Piping plovers will also switch mates between nest attempts. Since NPT's mate at Dogfish Bar was unbanded, and the mate at his new nest site is also, we don't know if he switched mates as well as location. But we hope his site-switching strategy brings him and his mate (whoever she is) success. We are already wondering where we will see this resilient plover next year.
Here you can see NPT incubating his most recent nest attempt. If you look real close you can see the top of the well-camouflaged eggs as well as the orange band he has on his right leg (the coded flag is on his left leg and out of view in this picture)
Here's an up-close view of NPT's new nest. Four eggs is a full clutch for piping plovers, and each egg laid weighs about 10% of the female's body weight. Due to these energetically expensive eggs, the female lays just one every other day. The tradeoff is that these substantial eggs hatch precocial chicks that can run and feed themselves shortly after hatching.
Here we see NPT foraging while the female incubates the nest. Both male and female piping plovers participate in protecting their eggs and rearing any chicks they hatch.
