You can help protect this little bird by watching out for it while you're strolling or playing on Island beaches. You can recognize the plover by its funny means of travel. It runs along the sand in quick short stops and starts. As cute as this sounds, these little fellows blend in very well on the sand. Its head and back are sand-coloured. It has a white rump and a partially black tail. It also has yellowish orange legs, a black band across its forehead, and a black ring around its neck.

That's one of the reasons they need your help. It's very easy to disturb them when they're on the sand. All-terrain vehicles (which are not allowed on National or Provincial Park beaches on Prince Edward Island), swimmers, and beachcombers disturb Piping Plovers. These "predators" may damage plover nests and eggs. Animals such as gulls and crows or racoons and foxes are a threat to the eggs and falcons may prey on the birds.

The plover's future is threatened for other reasons. It's thought that global warming may reduce the plover's habitat by causing drought on the prairies and flooding on the Atlantic coast.