Resilient Chick Hatches At Detroit Zoo
ROYAL OAK (the Patch) — Don't count this chick out before it's hatched. An endangered Great Lakes piping plover surprised Detroit Zoological Society (DZS) staff recently when the resilient little chick broke out of its shell.
Four piping plover eggs were found last month abandoned, wet and sunken in the sand on the shores of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in northern Michigan after heavy rain and high water levels washed out the nest. The eggs were taken to the University of Michigan's Biological Station in Pellston, where the DZS leads an award-winning program to salvage eggs like these to bolster the population of Great Lakes piping plovers.
Upon the eggs' arrival, DZS staff were dismayed that they appeared to be unviable, as no movement was observed. After three days, staff spotted motion in one of the eggs, which continued to develop, but the chick struggled to hatch. A DZS bird keeper assisted with the hatching, and the chick is now almost three weeks old and doing well.
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