A coastal Maine community is going ahead with fireworks on the Fourth of July despite concerns about the presence of an endangered bird.
The Portland Press Herald reports that there’s a piping plover nest 400 feet from where the fireworks are staged in Old Orchard Beach. Town Manager Larry Mead said the holiday fireworks will go on as planned because the plover’s chicks have hatched and the birds are expected to move away from noise and crowds.
The plover has been on the endangered species list for more than 30 years. There are 87 nesting plover pairs, a record, in the state, according to Maine Audubon.