Outdoors
The BDN outdoors section brings readers into the woods, waters and wild places of Maine. It features stories on hunting, fishing, wildlife, conservation and recreation, told by people who live these experiences. This section emphasizes hands-on knowledge, field reports, issues, trends and the traditions that define life outside in Maine. Read more Outdoors stories here.
If you’re visiting a beach in southern or midcoast Maine soon, you may want to keep an eye out for piping plovers.
These tiny shorebirds are hatching right now.
According to Maine Audubon Coastal Birds Seasonal Outreach Coordinator Kevin Mullan, four chicks hatched in Biddeford over Memorial Day weekend. Maine Audubon has identified more than 120 piping plover nests this spring, meaning many more chicks are expected to hatch in the coming weeks.
Piping plovers were hunted heavily in the 1800s for food and for feathers used in hats. Their numbers rebounded after the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, but habitat loss caused by beach development led to another decline. More than two-thirds of Maine’s roughly 30 miles of suitable nesting beaches were lost, and by 1981, only seven pairs remained in the state.
Conservation efforts have included fencing nesting areas, installing wire exclosures around nests, patrolling beaches and educating visitors. In 2025, Maine recorded a record 174 breeding pairs of piping plovers, surpassing the previous record of 157 pairs set in 2023.
Despite that recovery, piping plovers remain a state-endangered species, so knowing where and when to minimize disturbance is important.
The highest concentrations of nesting pairs and chicks are found at several popular beaches, including Wells Beach and Laudholm Beach in Wells, Pine Point, Higgins Beach and Ferry Beach in Scarborough, Ogunquit Beach, Old Orchard Beach, Drakes Island Beach and Parsons Beach in Kennebunk, and Popham Beach State Park and Reid State Park in midcoast Maine.
Fencing and posted signs mark nesting areas, but once chicks hatch, they can travel far beyond those protected zones. Chicks have been known to forage more than a mile from their nest site, and they are unable to fly for their first 25 days.
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As a result, visitors may encounter chicks well away from fenced nesting areas.
Piping plovers begin returning to Maine beaches in March and April, and many chicks hatch in late May and June. Some adults begin migrating south in July, but piping plovers can still be found on Maine beaches well into late summer.
Mullan recommends giving the birds extra space and filling in any holes dug in the sand before leaving the beach. Chicks can fall into those holes and become trapped.
You may be too close if an adult plover begins peeping loudly or performs a “broken-wing display.” Similar to behavior seen in killdeer, the bird will drag a wing and pretend to be injured in an effort to lure people away from its chicks.
