Gabby, the Oldest Plover is back home in Sleeping Bear!
Endangered Piping Plover Pair by JamesEyeViewPhotography
On January 25th, 2024 Sarah Tolve was looking for wintering PIping Plovers at Cumberland Island National Seashore in Georgia and found gabbY (named for her light green, light blue and yellow bands – gbY). via Great Lakes Piping Plover Conservation Team
mLive’s Tanda Gimter shares that GabbY, the oldest piping plover known on the Great Lakes has returned for another year:
Gabby, or Of,gb:X,Y, is a 16-year-old female plover. She hatched in 2009 on North Manitou Island.
“In addition to being the oldest female Great Lakes piping plover, she has also won the title of oldest known Great Lakes piping plover. This is quite an accomplishment, considering the average age of a piping plover is 3 to 5 years,” Stephanie Schubel, of the Great Lakes Piping Plover Conservation Team, previously told MLive.
…The species was federally listed as endangered in 1986 because of habitat loss, nest disturbance, and predation by other birds or animals. Plovers voyage on twice-yearly migrations spanning a thousand miles or more.
After nesting a few different locations Gabby returned to Sleeping Bear in 2019 and has called it home ever since.
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PS: If you’re wondering about the nifty bands, Great Lakes Piping Plover Conservation Team shares that chicks in the Great Lakes region are banded when young. If you are able to get a photo showing the bands, or can provide a description of the band colors and their position on the legs, and the color of the dots on the orange band and numbers on any solid-colored band to plover@umn.edu they can tell you what we know about when and where that plover hatched, and where it has been reported.
