 Breeding evidence |
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Click on plot to view table of mean abundance
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Number of squares
Long-term BBS trends
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Mean abundance (number of birds detected per 5 min. point count) and percentage of squares occupied by region Bird Conservation Regions [abund. plot]
[%squares plot]
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Atlas Results
Atlas results coming soon
Note: During all years of the Saskatchewan Breeding Bird Atlas drought conditions persisted and the Atlas range maps for all waterfowl, waterbirds, and wetland-associated species should be viewed as characteristic of distribution and abundance during dry conditions. Read the full drought statement here.
Excerpts Adapted from the Birds of Saskatchewan:
The Piping Plover is at best a locally common summer resident and is subject to great population fluctuations due to the drought and flood cycles that characterize the prairie climate. Ironically, it is those weather fluctuations that help create the barren shorelines that form its breeding habitat on reservoirs, river islands, and saline lakes (Smith 1996). This species breeds only in North America; on the northern Great Plains from Nebraska to the southern prairie provinces, along portions of the Great Lakes and from eastern Canada to North Carolina along the Atlantic coast. Winters on coastal beaches from the Carolinas to Yucatan.
Piping Plovers nest on gravel shores of shallow, saline lakes and on sandy shores of larger prairie lakes and reservoirs. They prefer wider, sparsely vegetated beaches (Dundas 1995), although they will use very narrow beaches (less than 1 m) if necessary. Seeps also provide important foraging habitat on the prairies (Goossen et al. 2002). Habitat constantly changes in quality and quantity because of water level fluctuation, vegetal encroachment, and grazing pressure.
Saskatchewan is key to the survival of the Piping Plover, accounting for 34% of the Prairie Canada/Great Plains population and 13.5% of the world population in 2011 (Elliott-Smith et al. 2015). COSEWIC first listed it as Threatened in 1978, and Endangered in 1985. Population trends are difficult to determine due to the ephemeral nature of plover habitat, the large extent of the habitat, and the bird's mobility.
Original text by Paule Hjertaas and Cheri L. Gratto-Trevor. Text adapted by Daniel J. Sawatzky
Read more about the Piping Plover in the Birds of Saskatchewan here.
Recommended citation: Latremouille, L. M. 2025. Piping Plover in Latremouille, L. M., S. L. Van Wilgenburg, C. B. Jardine, D. Lepage, A. R. Couturier, D. Evans, D. Iles, and K. L. Drake (eds.). 2025. The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Saskatchewan, 2017-2021. Birds Canada. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan https://sk.birdatlas.ca/accounts/speciesaccount.jsp?sp=PIPL&lang=en [14 Nov 2025]
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