The struggling piping plover will have an espically hard winter this year, as their wintering grounds are along the Florida and gulf coasts. As you know, the BP gulf spill has dumped millions of gallons of oil into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. As the piping plover spends almost 2/3 of a year in it's wintering areas, it will be an interesting spring to see how many have made it back.

From CBC:

Piping plovers, birds already endangered in the Maritimes, could be in further trouble from the BP oil spill when they migrate south this winter.

While most of the birds spend the winter in eastern Florida, which is expected to escape the impact of the spill, some plovers could end up in areas affected by it.

...

The population of birds on P.E.I. is particularly precarious. In the last few years, 85 to 100 birds have spent the summer on the Island, but this year the trust counted just 67. The plovers are particularly susceptible to oil along the beach.

BP oil spill could affect Maritime plovers
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2010/08/02/pei-plove...