Piping Plover Monitoring and Management at Fire Island National Seashore

Call for latest information on nesting activity and vehicle closures:

• Fire Island National Seashore
  Piping Plover Hotline
  631-687-5030
  
• Pets on the Beach

 

Fire Island National Seashore participates in an active Piping Plover Recovery Program. Signs, symbolic fencing and exclosures around nests are some of the measures taken to ensure the survival of this federally threatened/state endangered shorebird.

 

Two federally listed threatened and endangered (T & E) bird species are known to nest within Fire Island National Seashore. One is the piping plover (Charadrius melodus), a stocky little migratory shorebird that is on the federal threatened and New York State endangered species list. Fire Island's relatively natural and uncrowded beaches provide critical habitat for the survival of this species.

 

On January 10, 1986, the piping plover was listed as threatened and endangered under the provisions of the Endangered Species Act  of 1973, as amended by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1985.

This inconspicuous shorebird nests only in North America, with three distinct populations.

The federally threatened Atlantic coast population of the piping plover breeds on Atlantic Coast beaches from Virginia to Canada.

• Some of the New York-New Jersey subpopulation returns to Fire Island by mid-March.
• • Learn more about Piping Plovers on Fire Island 

The federally endangered Great Lakes population and federally threatened Great Plains population breed in suitable habitat in the northern mid-western states and parts of Canada. 

All piping plovers return to the south Atlantic Coast, Gulf Coast, Bahamas or West Indies for the winter.

 

National Park Service staff and volunteers install signs and symbolic fencing in the early spring to mark suitable plover habitat.

Fire Island National Seashore's annual piping plover monitoring and protection program begins in March with a restriction on driving, pets and kites on portions of the beach.

• Beginning in mid-March, restrictions on beach driving are implemented, when approximately seven miles of beach from Smith Point west to Watch Hill are closed to all but emergency response and patrol vehicles.
  
  Pets and kites are not allowed on three sections of the beach from March 15 through Labor Day:
  
• • On the ocean beach from the east boundary of Robert Moses State Park to the Village of Kismet (includes the beach in front of the Fire Island Lighthouse).
    
  • On the ocean beach between Oakleyville and Cherry Grove in the Sailors Haven area (which is part of the Sunken Forest Preserve).
    
  • From the western boundary of Smith Point County Park west to Long Cove (in front of the Fire Island Wilderness and just east of Watch Hill).
    
    Pets are not allowed inside the designated Fire Island Wilderness during this time period.
    
  • Additional areas as necessary due to actively nesting piping plovers.
     
• By early April, portions of the Fire Island National Seashore beach that were used for nesting in previous years or that are identified by park biologists as suitable plover habitat will be marked with symbolic fencing (normally, this consists of string with orange flagging stretched between light poles).
  
  The symbolic fencing helps keep people and vehicles from disturbing birds as they begin their courtship and nesting activities on the beach above the high water mark.

 

In the Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune Wilderness, corridors may be temporarily marked to direct hikers to or from the wilderness onto the beach without disturbing nesting plovers.

 

The plover nest begins as a shallow scraped depression on the sand above the high tide line. Nests may include bits of shell or small pebbles.

Piping plover courtship and mating usually occurs from late March through early June.

By early April, males begin to establish and defend their territory. Following courtship, the female bird lays three to four speckled eggs resembling small pebbles in a shallow scraped depression in the sand. Nests are usually on the beach above the high tide or wrack line, but may be situated in washovers or blowout areas behind the primary dune line. Plovers may also nest where suitable dredge material has been deposited.

Female plovers generally lay one egg every other day until they reach a complete clutch of four eggs. The eggs are incubated by both male and female birds for about 27 days.

Piping plovers generally fledge only a single brood per year, but may renest several times if previous nests are lost, or if the chicks are lost within a few days of hatching. 

 

A protective exclosure is constructed around the piping plover nest after the full clutch of four eggs is laid.

As nests are established, exclosures are constructed to protect the nest and eggs. 

Care must be taken to work quickly, so that the embryos in the eggs are not harmed by the heat of the sun, and the adults are not disturbed to the point of abandoning the nest.

 

Cryptic coloration is a primary defense mechanism for this species. Until they can fly, plover chicks are easy prey for predators, and could be easily crushed by vehicles or even by foot traffic.

Once hatched, plover chicks are still very vulnerable. They can walk soon after hatching, but their camouflaged coloration makes them very hard to see on the sand.

For their first four weeks of life, they may walk hundreds of yards from the nest site, and away from the symbolical fenced area. They usually stay near one or both parents until they fledge.

Plover chicks and adults forage in the intertidal beach areas for marine worms, beetles, crustaceans and other small invertebrates.

The birds are so well camouflaged, you may first be alerted to their presence by their high pitched "peep." Birds usually run a short distance, then stand very still.

 

While off-road-vehicle traffic is reduced during the summer, those ORVs that remain may be diverted off the beach and through communities where plover chicks are active on the beach.

During the summer, further measures are enacted to protect endangered and threatened species. Portions of Fire Island's beaches remain closed to pets. Kites are also prohibited in these areas, since nesting shorebirds may mistake a kite for a hovering bird of prey and abandon their nests.

• After Memorial Day weekend, essential service providers and patrol vehicles are normally the only vehicles permitted to drive on Fire Island's beaches, where not otherwise prohibited.
  
• When a nest of plover chicks hatches, normally 27 days after the eggs are laid, a specific section of beach and the dune crossings on each side of the nest will be closed to driving until the plover chicks have fledged. Traffic will be diverted down the interior vehicle route and through the communities while chicks are active, normally 25 days.
  
  Vehicle route closures and nesting activity is provided during the nesting season at:
  
• Fire Island National Seashore Piping Plover Hotline:
  631-687-5030

 

As a condition under which the 2008-09 beach nourishment projects were authorized for Fire Island, portions of the nourished beach in front of the participating Fire Island communities are symbolically fenced from early April through the first of July. If no plovers are nesting in these sections by July 1, the depth of the restricted beach area will be reduced. However, symbolic fencing will remain in place throughout the summer to provide protection for protected (T & E) plant species.

While American beach grass (Ammophilla breviligulata) is not a protected species, it benefits from the protection measures afforded the other species. Beach grass rhizomes and rootlets are able to develop where they are protected from trampling feet and vehicle traffic.

 

Piping plover chicks fledge, or fly from the nest, usually within 25-35 days. Most nesting activity has ceased on Fire Island by mid-August, and the birds fly south for the winter.

After the chicks have fledged, restrictions on pets and kites are lifted, but the symbolic fencing is left in place for the protection of beach plants.

 

You Can Help

• Respect fenced areas and stay clear of bird nesting areas.
  
• Where they are permitted, always keep dogs leashed.
  See Pets on the Beach for current restrictions

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Learn More

• Piping Plovers: U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Species Profile 
• Piping Plover Fact Sheet: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
• Threatened and Endangered Species at Fire Island National Seashore.