LUDINGTON, Mich. — A nesting pair of endangered birds have set up home at a Lake Michigan shoreline park, prompting western Michigan authorities to protectively rope off 10,000 square feet of beach.

The piping plovers were spotted this spring at Stearns Park beach in Ludington this spring, leading the city’s public works department to postpone preparations for the summer.

Department supervisor Joe Stickney said in a press release that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requested his crews not to use equipment on the beach.

After the mother bird laid the egg, authorities built a 3-by-3-by-2-foot fenced structure around the nest and a roped area of 100-by-100 feet for further protection.

Plovers typically lay four eggs. They’re classified as endangered in the Great Lakes region.