First Plover returns to the Great Lakes 4/11/2022

The winner of the 2022 Great Lakes Piping Plover race is Of,RR:X,G (aka RRG, pronounced Erg). He was first seen on the afternoon of 4/11/2022 by plover monitor, Scott Mills, at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore along the shore near the Dune Climb Trail. Logan Clark took this photo of him on 4/12/2022 at Sleeping Bear Point.

RRG hatched in 2016 on North Manitou Island. He nested in 2017 on South Manitou Island and has been breeding near the Maritime Museum at Sleeping Bear Dunes since 2018.

He has only twice been seen away from the Great Lakes. Both reports were from July 2021 at Dauphin Island, AL. We don't know where he goes for the winter.

The first Piping Plover is usually seen in the Great Lakes April 10-12, so RRG is right on time.

Congratulations RRG!