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More Park Facilities Reopen During May 2013
Watch Hill and Sailors Haven marinas open May 10. Limited ferry service from Sayville to Sailors Haven resumes May 13 and ferries from Patchogue to Watch Hill start on May 18. Remaining park facilities to reopen by May 25, 2013. More »
Piping Plover Monitoring and Management at Fire Island National Seashore
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.
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Fire Island National Seashore biologists monitor and report piping plover statistics. From the number of breeding pairs that nest and the number of chicks successfully fledged, biologists are able to determine the productivity rate for the season.
Two federally listed threatened and endangered (T & E) bird species have been known to nest within Fire Island National Seashore. The most notable 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.
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. Annual Piping Plover Monitoring and Protection Program 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.
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 on Fire Island from late March through early June. 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. Fire Island's plover chicks usually hatch between late April and mid-July. Once hatched, chicks are very vulnerable and park monitoring and management efforts continue. For their first four weeks of life, plover chicks may walk hundreds of yards from the nest site, and away from the symbolical fenced area as they forage in the intertidal beach areas. They usually stay near one or both parents until they fledge. Fire Island plover chicks may fledge between late May and mid-August. 
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. Throughout 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.
By mid-August, most piping plover nesting activity has ceased on Fire Island 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 seabeach amaranth (Amaranthus pumilus) and seabeach knotweed (Polygonum glaucum) plants. 
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. You Can Help
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Fire Island National Seashore Piping Plover Productivity Chart
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Piping Plovers
Birdwatching
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Did You Know?
Lifeguarded beaches are provided at Fire Island National Seashore during the summer at Watch Hill and Sailors Haven. More...