Overview
Hello Ploverites!
While we haven't seen a final round of snowy plover nesting like we were expecting, it has still been an eventful time for us here in the seashore. If we end up not finding any more nests this season, all our eggs currently on beaches should be hatched out by the first week of August. Over the last couple of days, we banded six chicks (from two different nests) and one adult male. Currently, we have three nests left on the beach between Abbotts Lagoon and North Beach and one nest still a couple weeks away from hatch at Limantour Beach. We are also starting to see the formation of some proper winter flocks at Limantour Beach. Earlier this week we found a flock of 27 birds at the end of the spit along with 13 other birds scattered around the beach. Many of these birds are unbanded, so we have no way of knowing where they're coming in from, but the vast majority are not from Point Reyes.
While our fledge number has not increased over the last couple of weeks, we're anticipating adding more to the count as these winter flocks form. Chicks this year have been doing an excellent job at staying hidden from us during surveys, but they'll have to come out of the vegetation in the dunes soon enough. As we start to see more flocks, our team will look through them searching for any and all band combinations we can find. This helps up understand where birds are coming in from, what locals are still around and might stick around for the winter, and which of our banded hatchlings made it all the way to fledge. This is one of my favorite times of the year because we get to see so many different individuals and add a little more information to their life story.
As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact Parker Kaye via email.
Productivity Stats
- 51 total nests this season
- 4 active nest
- 18 hatched
- 29 failed nests
- 12 chicks on PRNS beaches
- 9 chicks fledged
- 2 PRNS juveniles released from IBR
A snowy plover chick banded red over violet on the left leg, red over aqua on the right leg (rv:ra). This bird was banded along with two other chicks at North Beach on July 24, 2025.
Photo credit: Parker Kaye / PRNSA
Three banded snowy plover chicks nest next to a piece of driftwood and Tidestrom's lupine (Lupinus tidestromii) in the Abbotts Lagoon restoration area. Our team also banded the male of this nest who quickly returned to tend to his chicks after being banded.
Photo credit: Parker Kaye / PRNSA
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