A Vanishing Melody: The Call of the Piping Plover

This inexpensive tape pays homage to the piping plover, a small, migratory shore bird whose cryptic coloring gives it an advantage against predators, but a "disadvantage when it comes to public interest and attention." Added to the Endangered Species list in 1985, the plover population actually increased 26.9% from 1991 to 1996, due undoubtedly to the efforts of government employees like the ones interviewed in the tape, who have as daily duties the preservation of the plovers' habitats and the rescue of eggs from predators and weather. Though this tape is a couple steps below Discovery Channel or PBS quality, and its subject is not nearly as dramatic as, say, grizzly bears, it's a pretty good little documentary. Recommended, with minor reservations for libraries collecting in this area. Aud: J, H, C, P. (K. Glaser)