Celebrity Shorebirds with Mary Birdsong

Celebrity Shorebirds: Piping Plovers and Common Terns at Presque Isle. After a 60-year absence, Piping Plovers are now once again calling Gull Point at Presque Isle State Park their summer home. Nesting there since 2017, they have contributed to the endangered Great Lakes population in a meaningful way and afforded us the opportunity to learn more about these charismatic shorebirds. They have also provided moments of deep sadness as well as sublime joy. Birdsong will provide an overview of Erie Bird Observatory programs and provide information about the Great Lakes population of Piping Plovers, including highlights from the last nine years of monitoring. She will also talk about Common Terns, who have also attempted to nest at Gull Point and were finally successful in 2024.

Mary Birdsong is co-founder and Lead Shorebird Monitor for Erie Bird Observatory. She has been monitoring shorebirds, particularly Piping Plovers since 2013. She is also a freelance writer and artist. She shares her home with her husband Mike Plyler and two gray tabby cats, and is the proud Busia to three granddaughters and one grandson. (note: Busia, pronounced Boo-sha, is Polish for grandmother)