The Region of Queens is doing all it can to give a pair of newborn Piping Plovers a fighting chance. They are reminding anyone who goes to Beach Meadows Beach to take their dog for a walk to make sure their pups are on a leash. Director of Recreation Norm Amirault says it will give the sparrow sized birds a better chance to survive. He says a nest of five hatched earlier this month and already three have not survived.
The small birds are sand-coloured and are unable to fly for the first few weeks after they are born. According to statistics, half of the dwindling Plover population live on the Atlantic Coast.