Status of the endangered piping plover, Charadrius melodus, population in the Maryland Coastal Bays. Kumer, J. Maryland's Coastal Bays: Ecosystem Health Assessment, 2004.
Status of the endangered piping plover, Charadrius melodus, population in the Maryland Coastal Bays [pdf]Website  abstract   bibtex   
The Piping plover, a federally threatened species, restricts its mid-Atlantic breeding activities to early successional shorelines, which harbor an abundance of surface- dwelling prey. To date, the only portion of Assateague Island that has received sufficient tidal influence for cross-island overwash has been a 9.5 km (6 mile) section just south of the Ocean City Inlet, adjacent to the Sinepuxent Bay. Two significant tidal events (1992 and 1998) have helped maintain the early succession habitat in certain areas. For the past eight breeding seasons, the Piping plover breeding population has remained stable at around 60 pairs (and additional non-breeding birds). Although difficult to evaluate, it is possible that the population is at capacity for the available conditions

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