Terns & Plovers

It’s a story with a twist, much like the braided river where it begins. Along the lower Platte River in Nebraska, small channels of water continually split and join, creating changing sandbars that provide habitat for least terns and piping plovers.

Written and Produced By Valerie Cuppens Bates

Terns, Plovers & the Platte

It’s a story with a twist, much like the braided river it begins on. Along the lower Platte River in Nebraska, the small channels continually split and join, creating sandbars that provide a habitat for least terns and piping plovers. But sandbars are constantly changing and over time river flows have been altered by …

Research & Monitoring

One early June morning, the folks from the Conservation Partnership climb out of their vehicle onto a sparse, sandy landscape dominated by two colors: beige and blue.

Appearance & Behavior

Birds were the first flying machines. They knew what to do before the Wright brothers built the first airplane. They are built to do what they need to do.

Nests, Eggs & Chicks

“Watch where you step,” warned Lauren Dinan, bird biologist with the Nebraska Game & Park Commission. The birds’ nests, eggs and chicks are nearly invisible on the sand and gravel, where they have chosen to breed.

Why do we Care?

Help measure the bird’s success. Become a citizen scientist.

Citizen science is a project or program where volunteers who are not professional scientists conduct surveys, take measurements or record observations.