Piping Plover.

Dr. Miller, Dr. Stephen Flemming, and Joanne Flemming have met with plover monitors and Guardian coordinators to introduce the project. Mr. Sung has commenced research at the P.E.I. National Park and other Island breeding sites to test whether or not individual Piping Plover can be distinguished using this technique. If this experiment is successful, tapes can be compiled from across the breeding range and the movements of individuals can be traced.

HAVE YOU SEEN THESE PLANTS? by Kate MacQuarrie & Mark Arsenault

Island Nature Trust has initiated a project to locate and conserve some of Prince Edward Island's least common forest communities. To help gage how unique a woodlot is, we are using a number of indicators including the presence of rare plants. A spin-off benefit of this work will be the creation of a rare plant database, with information on the abundance, distribution and accurate locations of our least common woodland flora.

There are a number of sources that point to certain plants as rare in Island woodlands: Day & Catlings Rare vascular Plants of P.E.I., Erskine's The Plants of Prince Edward Island and Sobey's Analysis of the Ground Flora and Other Data Collected During the 1991 Prince Edward Island Forest Inventory I - Floristic Analysis to name just a few. We've chosen the latter source as our primary list, and are hoping you may have seen some of these in your travels about the Island. If so, please call us at 566-9150; when a sufficient number of sites is known for a particular species, we'll be able to create a detailed habitat description. It may be that some of these plants aren't rare at all, we just haven't been looking in the right places!

The editor of Island Naturalist has generously offered space for us to highlight some of the species we're seeking. If you know of a location for any of these, please let us know.

1. Nodding trillium (Trillium cernum): This beautiful member of the lily family is a harbinger of spring, with flowers V appearing in late April and early May. Like the other Island trilliums (painted and purple), this plant has three simple leaves and a flower with three white (or less commonly, pink) petals. The nodding trillium is easily identified by the flower which "nods", or curves down below mnum cmmm the leaves (see illustration).

Yellow and Showy Lady's Slippers (Cypripedium calceolus and C. reginae): These are not the same as our provincial flower, the Stemless Lady Slipper (C. acaule) which is quite common. These orchids generally flower in June, with

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CYPRIPEDIUM CALCEOLUS CYPRIP DIUM REGINAE