Sleeping Bear Dunes reports first piping plover sightings of 2021
Updated 4:32 PM;
Today 4:28 PM
Researchers at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore have reported seeing the park s first Piping Plovers of 2021. Photo by Vincent Cavalieri, National Park Service, used with permission
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EMPIRE, MICH. Piping plovers, the tiny endangered shorebirds named for their soft, high-pitched song, have officially returned to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore for the summer.
Over the weekend observers reported sighting the first 2021 plover at the park, near Sleeping Bear Point. That bird turned out to be a particularly speedy six-year-old male that holds the distinction of being the first plover back at Sleeping Bear every spring for several years running.
9 & 10 News
February 19, 2021
It is an insect that can devastate forests of trees.
Invasive species specialist, Robert Miller says, “Hemlock woolly adelgid is a small aphid like insect that uses its long siphoning mouth parts to extract sap from Hemlock trees, ultimately damaging and killing the trees.”
Over the last few years, Miller says new discoveries have led to more investigations.
“Unfortunately Hemlock woolly adelgid has become established in Allegan, Ottawa, Muskegon, Oceana, and Mason County and we’re working to respond to those infestations,” said Miller.
Most recently, they found a case at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
“It was found at the Platte River Campground. So far, just in one tree. Our [vegetation] crew has been doing surveys as recommended by Michigan DNR in a radius around the original location,” said Vince Cavalieri, wildlife biologist for the park.