Join Maine Audubon's Laura Minich Zitske to learn about Piping Plover project successes and challenges.

Each spring, endangered Piping Plovers and Least Terns return to nest and raise their young on southern Maine beaches. They are two of Maine’s most iconic and threatened bird species. For more than 35 years, Maine Audubon and our partners have worked with local residents, landowners, and visitors to ensure that endangered birds, wildlife, and people can safely share the beach.

Laura Minich Zitske has been working with birds for 28 years, the last 15 of which have been spent at Maine Audubon as director of the Coastal Birds Project. In this talk, Laura will highlight some of the project’s successes and challenges over the past 45 years, including Maine’s exciting increases in the Piping Plover population. She will explore what makes plovers such remarkable birds and discuss the collaborative successes of Maine Audubon’s work with partners. Although Maine’s Piping Plovers are currently in a good place, there is always more work to be done to protect them and other migratory shorebirds. Learn about the incredible journeys of some species that stop along our coastline and how we can work together to help protect some of our most vulnerable feathered friends.