Welcome
Michigan's Sleeping Bear Birding Trail ("SBBT") spans an excellent migratory flyway and thousands of public acres along the Lake Michigan coastline. The Trail is home to the Piping Plover, an endangered shorebird that needs undisturbed beach for nesting. The Trail is anchored by Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, a National Park and an Important Bird Area ("IBA") with 71,000 acres of public land and 35 miles of beaches. The length of the Trail covers all 123 miles of Michigan Highway M-22 which runs from Manistee on the southern end to Traverse City at the northern terminus. The Trail and M-22 outline the northwest shoreline and the "little finger' of Michigan's mitten peninsula. The diverse habitat, significant public access, and many miles of shoreline make the Trail a birder's paradise. There is a lot to experience along the Trail; we take pride in our habitat variety from forests, orchards and vineyards to wetlands and beaches.
Sleeping Bear Birding Trail is brought to you by Saving Birds Through Habitat, a conservation organization working to protect North America's declining bird population. Click the logo to learn more about the work we do.
The Trail is home to the Piping Plover, an endangered shorebird that needs vast stretches of undisturbed beach. They are sand-colored on the back and white below. During the breeding season, adults have a black forehead band between the eyes and a single black band around the neck. (Its larger relative, the Killdeer, is commonly seen at parks, playgrounds, and golf courses, and has two dark bands around the neck.) Piping Plovers nest only on beaches and prefer beaches with cobble. There are three small populations: one in the Great Plains, one on the Atlantic Coast, and the one here in the Great Lakes. They winter together on the Gulf Coast but travel to the separate areas during the breeding season. It is a special opportunity to be able to observe Piping Plovers since there are only between 50 and 60 nesting pairs in the entire Great Lakes area and less than 5000 individuals worldwide. For more detailed information on the habits of the Piping Plover, see the Piping Plover page on the National Park Service's website.
Please help protect Piping Plovers. Observe and obey the closed area fences and watch and enjoy them from a distance. Keep dogs and other pets on leashes and out of areas of the beach closed to pets. Don't feed gulls or leave food on the beach. This increases the gull population and attracts predators to the area that will also prey on Piping Plovers. If you find a Plover family outside of the fencing give them some space. The small chicks can disappear quickly in sand or cobble and are easily stepped on. Watch for and report sightings of Piping Plovers nesting in new areas. If you see anyone harassing Piping Plovers please report it to Sleeping Bear Dunes Headquarters. (231-326-5134)
