Captive Rearing

In an unassuming brown building on the grounds of the University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS) important work is being done. It is the home of the Great Lakes Piping Plover Captive Rearing program, managed by the Detroit Zoo. Here, eggs that are salvaged from abandoned nests are carefully incubated and raised into independent chicks.

Salvaged eggs in an incubator

The chicks are precocial, meaning they’re born with their eyes open, downy feathers, and able to walk and feed themselves. After being monitored closely in the “ICU” for their first one to two days, they are moved to a larger indoor enclosure with sand, plants, and water that mimics their habitat in the wild. There are lights carefully set to keep the chicks warm enough, and a feather duster “mom” that they can cuddle under.

The lake pen on Douglas Lake

At around 25-28 days old, once they're able to fly well, the chicks receive permanent ID bands and are released back into the wild, often at their original nest site.They spend a few weeks among wild plovers of similar age before migrating south for the winter. Sometimes, they’re even spotted by monitors at their wintering grounds! Identifiable by an orange flag and a "split band" (two colors on the same band),  these captive-reared plovers symbolize hope.

The captive rearing station at UMBS

There are various reasons a nest might be abandoned, including predation of a parent, washout from a storm, or disturbances from visitors to the beach. Each summer, trained monitors vigilantly watch for any signs that a nest was abandoned, alerting their supervisors when they see a nest in trouble. Once permission is granted, these precious eggs are transported to the Biological Station, where dedicated staff from AZA-accredited zoos nationwide assist in the meticulous process of incubation, hatching, and rearing using protocols developed by the Detroit Zoo.

Two day old chicks in ICU box

When they’re a week or so old the chicks are introduced to the outdoors - in a protected pen attached to the building. Gradually, the amount of time they spend outdoors increases, and they “graduate” to the lake pen where plover school begins in earnest. There, they can forage along the shore of Douglas Lake and among the native plants on the beach, and begin testing out their wings, all while still being protected from potential predators. Eventually, they spend all of their time outside.

A 2024 captive reared plover on the day of release to the wild

Although it’s a last resort, egg salvaging has been an important part of the piping plover recovery efforts since 1992. Approximately 90% of captive reared chicks survive to fledge, compared to roughly 50% of their wild counterparts. Though their post-release survival rate is slightly lower, each chick is vital for the species’ long-term recovery, underscoring the importance of this dedicated conservation work.