"The Atlantic Coast population of the Piping Plover has been federally listed as "Threatened" since 1986. It is also listed as "Threatened" pursuant to Massachusetts' Endangered Species Act."


From the FWS web page......

karl, piping plovers are protected by the endangered species act (esa). somehow, the usf&w broke the piping plovers into 3 "sub-species" by where their summer territories/breeding areas are. these "sub-species" are the atlantic coast, great lakes, and northern great plains. the atlantic coast population is considered threatened. the northern great plains population is considered threatened. the great lakes population is considered endangered as they have less than 100 breeding pairs. the atlantic states population in 2003 was 1676. northern great lakes is about the same numbers as atlantic. since they supposedly winter together (still unproven), they are considered threatened on those wintering grounds - north carolina being one of them. together as a whole, the populations are greater than the 2000 pairs needed to be removed from the esa. but divided as they are, there are issues. each state has their own designation on the bird status. n ri, ma, and ct it is threatened. in ny is is endangered due to the birds on one island and the great lakes population.

so, even threatened, the bird has just as much pull as if it were endangered.

I've been thinking of printing these stickers for a while.....