Piping Plover
                       Charadrius melodus

Habitat: Breed mostly along the  Atlantic coast, from South Carolina northward to eastern Canada and the French Islands of Pierre and Miquelon.

Domain: Eukaya
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Charadriidae
Genus: Charadrius
Species: melodus

     The piping plover has bilateral symmetry.  They have a sand-colored upper body, a white underside, and orange legs.  One structural adaptation is that their sand color makes them harder to see on the ground.  Another structural adaptation is that they do not have teeth, so they use their gizzard to help digest food.  A functional adaptation is that the adults will fake a broken wing, drawing attention to itself and away from their chicks when a predator is near.  An interesting fact about the piping plover is they will sometimes extend one foot out into wet sand and vibrate it to scare up food items.  This is a foraging technique known as foot-trembling.  Their predators are gulls, crows, skunks, coyotes, raccoons, and foxes.  Their prey are insects, spiders, and crustaceans.  They are heterotrophic and endothermic.