Kildeer as nuisance?

[semillama]

Co-worker jsut got back from vacation near Pea Island, NC. Said he saw a lot of stickers on cars with pictures of kildeer with an "X" over them, and that these stickers were always on the cars of people who seemed to be environmentally conscious. Anyone have any idea of what these stickers are or what they mean?

[blindpig]

1. a guess

The target of these people's ire may not be the homely kildeer but perhaps another shoreline species, I'm thinking Least Tern. I suspect that through some quirk real protection has been granted to an endangered or threatened species and it is inconvient to some(road closures?) or development restrictions(horrors).

St George Island off the Florida Panhandle has a little island on the causeway approach utilized by Least Terns and American Oystercatchers for nesting. The toll on the terns due to traffic is horrendous.

Something tells me that I'm completely out to lunch.

[semillama]

2. hmmm

perhaps it's not a kildeer but a piping plover on those stickers? that would explain it in terms of protecting habitat, but then again it does not explain these stickers being on "hippies" cars (the co-workers term). You'd think they would be FOR habitat protection.