This plover is part of a flight behavior study conducted by the State University of NY. It was banded and has an antenna for telemetry to allow for tracking. This bird was born in Avalon, NJ last year, returned to nest in Strathmere this year, and just recently successfully fledged a single chick. Eventually the antenna will fall off. I've never seen a plover with a tracking antenna before so it was pretty neat to see. Piping Plovers are a federally threatened species.