The population of endangered piping plovers in Alberta has dipped below 100, but a veteran wildlife biologist still sees room for optimism.A wildlife biologist says there are roughly 50 to 75 piping plovers left in Alberta. That's down from 276 in 1996. The population of endangered piping plovers in Alberta has dipped below 100, but a veteran wildlife biologist still sees room for optimism.He says the increase in major weather events is a big factor.
"We have habitat now where we have trees the size of my thigh growing on the shoreline of lakes that used to have really good, gravelly habitat. It's just completely covered with vegetation now. Without those wetter years, we end up losing the habitat.""They are a small shorebird, about the size of a bluebird, a little smaller than a robin. They are very cryptic in colour, slate grey on the back with a black band on the front.
"There are probably between 50 and 75 left in the province right now. Very low numbers. We did find a few yesterday, more than we were expecting, so that's a really positive sign.""It can be frustrating, for sure, thinking about how much time I have spent working on this. We have seen really positive results and more downward trends on stuff that is more difficult to mitigate against," he said.