Find Out Why This Piping Plover Appears to Tap Dance on the Sand

If you’ve ever walked the beach and watched a tiny bird pulling something from the sand, it was likely a piping plover. These speedy shorebirds are known for their agile movements along coastlines and are masters at dodging waves. You might not know that they’re also masters at hunting, and this video by @birdingwithjess shows how resourceful these birds can be.

What is This Piping Plover Looking For?

Piping plover diets are similar to those of many other small birds. They eat mainly insects, with the occasional crustacean or marine worm. Depending on the season, a piping plover might also eat mollusks, flies, or caterpillars. While their diets are not widely studied, the bird’s feeding ground dictates its hunting methods. In this video, we see a piping plover feeding at the beach. This federally-protected species nests near coastlines such as these to be near its food sources. It’s likely searching for small crabs, worms, fleas, or spiders in the sand. Its method for finding these insects, however, is quite unconventional.

Why Piping Plovers Pat the Sand

No, this bird isn’t tap dancing. The foot-tapping method is a way to locate insects underneath damp earth, such as this beach. The vibration of this bird’s foot brings insects to the surface. Bugs, like worms, feel the vibration and instinctively make their way to the surface to relocate. This piping plover might be small, but its rapidly tapping foot feels like an earthquake to an insect. The method works best on wet or easily moved ground, such as beaches, marshes, and bog-like waterways.

What you don’t see in this video is how fast a piping plover can hunt down prey. Birds run up and down coastlines or waterways, tapping their feet when they sense movement or hollow ground. At certain intervals, they pause, trying to sense movement underneath their feet. This behavior is not all that different from echolocation, which is used by bats when hunting insects. When locating insects, they use their beaks to quickly peck at the ground and pick up their prey. This behavior might look chaotic to the untrained eye, but it makes them quite efficient at feeding. Even more impressive, piping plover chicks can hunt food within hours of hatching. They feed on the same insects adults do and are intelligent enough to pick up hunting techniques during their first day outside their shells.