Bird
Piping Plover
Charadrius melodus
Lives in North Carolina all year and nests here. Found in 10 of 100 counties, across 7 habitats.
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- 10 of 100 counties
- Habitats
- 7

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- 10 of 100 counties
- Habitats
- 7
- Habitat models
- Summer, Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in North Carolina 7
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.
Coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated)
Tidal marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts where the source does not say whether the water is fresh, brackish or salt. A stated salinity files the marsh under freshwater tidal marshes or salt and brackish marshes instead.
Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.
Coastal marshes flooded by salty or brackish tides.

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Salt and brackish open water of sounds, bays and estuaries, with the mud and sand flats and seagrass beds that tides cover and uncover; the vegetated marsh is salt and brackish marshes.
Other habitats in its models (45)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in North Carolina. Those recorded in North Carolina first, the rest by region.
Elsewhere in the South (15)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Louisiana Beach Summer and winter.
- Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- South Florida Shell Hash Beach Summer and winter.
- Southeast Florida Beach Summer and winter.
- Southwest Florida Beach Summer and winter.
- Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Texas Coastal Bend Beach Summer and winter.
- Upper Texas Coast Beach Summer and winter.
- Western Great Plains Floodplain Summer.
Northeast (4)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer and winter.
- Great Lakes Freshwater Estuary and Delta Summer.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dune and Swale Summer, beside its main habitat.
Midwest (10)
- Central Mixedgrass Prairie Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Great Lakes Alvar Summer.
- Great Lakes Dune Summer.
- Great Plains Prairie Pothole Summer.
- Northern Great Lakes Coastal Marsh Summer.
- Northwestern Great Plains Floodplain Summer.
- Northwestern Great Plains Mixedgrass Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Western Great Plains Open Freshwater Depression Wetland Summer.
- Western Great Plains Saline Depression Wetland Summer.
- Western Great Plains Sand Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
West (7)
- Inter-Mountain Basins Alkaline Closed Depression Summer.
- Inter-Mountain Basins Interdunal Swale Wetland Summer.
- Inter-Mountain Basins Playa Summer.
- Inter-Mountain Basins Semi-Desert Grassland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- North American Warm Desert Playa Summer.
- Western Great Plains Closed Depression Wetland Summer.
- Western Great Plains Shortgrass Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
Land cover and other classes (9)
- Acadian Salt Marsh and Estuary Systems Summer.
- Barren Land Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer.
- Great Lakes Coastal Marsh Systems Summer.
- South Texas Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.
- Western Great Plains Depressional Wetland Systems Summer and winter.
- Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer and winter.
Seasons in North Carolina
- Year-round: nests here, in 8 of 100 counties.
- Summer: nests here, in 4 of 100 counties.
Also found in its main habitats
Its main habitats in North Carolina, by how much of its habitat model each one is, with the birds most characteristic of each and the plants that grow wild there. Shared habitat, not food.
Coastal dunes and beaches
Birds 112
- DovekieAlle alle
- Horned LarkEremophila alpestris
- Marbled GodwitLimosa fedoa
- Short-billed DowitcherLimnodromus griseus
- Wilson's PloverCharadrius wilsonia
- Great Black-backed GullLarus marinus
- Purple SandpiperCalidris maritima
- Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed SparrowAmmodramus caudacutus
- Sandwich TernThalasseus sandvicensis
- Seaside SparrowAmmodramus maritimus
- Wilson's WarblerWilsonia pusilla
- Field SparrowSpizella pusilla
Plants 132
- Maritime ThoroughwortEupatorium maritimum
- Beach Morning-gloryIpomoea imperati
- Railroad VineIpomoea brasiliensis
- Seabeach KnotweedPolygonum glaucum
- Northern BayberryMorella pensylvanica
- Seabeach AmaranthAmaranthus pumilus
- Northern Seaside SpurgeEuphorbia polygonifolia
- Southern Seaside SpurgeEuphorbia bombensis
- Mound-lily YuccaYucca gloriosa
- Northern Seabeach OrachAtriplex mucronata
- Dune Marsh-elderIva imbricata
- Dune BluecurlsTrichostema nesophilum
Salt and brackish marshes
Birds 92
- Marbled GodwitLimosa fedoa
- Short-billed DowitcherLimnodromus griseus
- Wilson's PloverCharadrius wilsonia
- Great Black-backed GullLarus marinus
- Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed SparrowAmmodramus caudacutus
- Sandwich TernThalasseus sandvicensis
- Seaside SparrowAmmodramus maritimus
- American OystercatcherHaematopus palliatus
- Black SkimmerRynchops niger
- Brown PelicanPelecanus occidentalis
- Eastern Brown PelicanPelecanus occidentalis carolinensis
- Greater ScaupAythya marila
Plants 52
- Perennial Saltmarsh AsterSymphyotrichum tenuifolium
- Wand LoosestrifeLythrum lineare
- Sea OxeyeBorrichia frutescens
- Olney's ThreesquareSchoenoplectus americanus
- Saltmarsh SpikerushEleocharis uniglumis
- Perennial GlasswortSalicornia ambigua
- Weakley's Flat-top GoldenrodEuthamia weakleyi
- Smallfruit BeggarticksBidens mitis
- Saltmarsh Morning-gloryIpomoea sagittata
- Bushy KnotweedPolygonum prolificum
- Virginia PlantainPlantago virginica
- Seashore CrowngrassPaspalum vaginatum
Coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated)
Birds 81
- Marbled GodwitLimosa fedoa
- Short-billed DowitcherLimnodromus griseus
- Wilson's PloverCharadrius wilsonia
- Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed SparrowAmmodramus caudacutus
- Seaside SparrowAmmodramus maritimus
- American OystercatcherHaematopus palliatus
- Black SkimmerRynchops niger
- Brown PelicanPelecanus occidentalis
- Common TernSterna hirundo
- Eastern Brown PelicanPelecanus occidentalis carolinensis
- Greater ScaupAythya marila
- Red KnotCalidris canutus
Plants 34
- Annual Saltmarsh AsterSymphyotrichum subulatum
- Sandpaper VervainVerbena scabra
- Tidal ArrowheadSagittaria spongiosa
- Dwarf ArrowheadSagittaria subulata
- Black NeedlerushJuncus roemerianus
- Carolina Sea-lavenderLimonium carolinianum
- Crowned BeggarticksBidens trichosperma
- Shoreline SedgeCarex hyalinolepis
- New England BulrushBolboschoenus novae-angliae
- Pink RedstemAmmannia latifolia
- Carolina Spider-lilyHymenocallis crassifolia
- Grassy ArrowheadSagittaria graminea
All of coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated) in North Carolina
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP winter habitat model for Piping Plover
- USGS Gap Analysis Project range maps (2001), modeled by watershed; migratory gives no dates
- NatureServe Explorer (CC BY 4.0), habitat names
- US Census TIGER/Line counties
- Names follow the USGS Gap Analysis Project (2001)










































