WSP11050

• File Number: 8460.400
• Description: Platte River Basin-Platte River Basin Endangered Species Issues-Platte River Management Joint Study
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 3/1/1992
• Author: Ziewitz-Sidle-Dinan
• Title: Prairie Naturalist 24-1-Habitat Conservation for Nesting Least Terns and Piping Plovers on the Platte River Nebraska
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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Habitat Conservation for Nestin r Least -J

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Terns and Piping Plovers on the
Platte River, Nebraska

JERRY w. ZIEWITZ', JOHN G. SIDLE2, and JOHN J. DINAN

Platte River Whooping Crane Habitat Maintenance Trust
2550 North Diers Avenue, Suite H, Grand Island, NE 68803 (JWZ)

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 203 West Second Street,
Grand Island, NE 68801 (JGS)

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission,
P.O. Box. 30370, Lincoln, NE 68503 (JJD)

ABSTRACT - We measured characteristics of the nesting habitat of least terns (Sterna amilla-
rum) and piping plovers (Charadrill' me/odu.) in the central and lower reaches of the Platle River
during 1988. Most birds nested on the Lower Platte. Ground measurements and repetitive aerial
videography indicated that birds "nested in river segments that were wider and had a greater area of
sparsely vegetated sandbars than segments comprising a systematic sample of the two river reaches. '
Wider channels and larger. higher sandbars were available on the Lower Platle than on the Central
Platte. Nests on the Lower Platte had greater clearance above water at the time of nest initiation than
nests on the Central Platte. The mean elevation of nests was higher than the mean elevation of sand-
bars used for nesting on the Lower Platle. The reverse was true on the Central Pia tie. The habitat
differences between lhe IWO reaches probably explain the distribution of birds and suggeslthal habi-
tat availabililY may be limiting populations on the Central Platle. We recommend creating sandbars
of sufficient size and height in appropriate segments of the Central Platte. using Lower Plalte
nesting sites as a model, to provide suitable nesting substrate for least terns and piping plovers.

Key words: least lem. piping plover, nesling habitat. Platte River

The loss and disturbance of nesting habitat were cited as the primary threats
to the interior population of the least tern and the piping plover when these birds
were listed as endangered and threatened, respectively, by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (USFWS) (USFWS 1985a, 1985b). Nesting habitat of both
species in the northern Great Plains consists of barren or sparsely vegetated
areas of sand and gravel associated with rivers (Faanes 1983, Mayer and Dryer
1988, Schwalbach 1988, Dirks 1990), ponds and lakes (Whyte 1985, Haig
1987, Prindiville-Gaines and Ryan 1988), and reservoir shorelines (Gray 1990;
Mayer and Dryer 1990; Prellwitz et al. 1989; Schwalbach 1988; USFWS 1989,
1990a, 1990b, 1990c).
In the upper Missouri River Basin (Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota,
Iowa, and Nebraska), least terns and piping plovers often nest close together at

'Presenl address: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. HL-20.2. 810 ISI St., N.E., Washington.
D.C. 20426.
'Send requests for reprints to John G. Sidle.