Overview
Hello Ploverites! We had a very busy, but successful holiday weekend with the start of the docent program. Docents were stationed at North Beach parking lot to make contacts with visitors and watch over the beach closure going north to Abbotts Lagoon. Western snowy plovers were present in the fenced area north of the parking lot all three days. Docents on Memorial Day even witnessed two birds copulating and scraping!
Furthermore, we had our first nest hatch of the breeding season! See the photo toward the bottom of the page of an up-close shot of the chicks and their father inside the nest exclosure. This nest was located south of North Beach parking lot. Let's cross our fingers that the skies above them are predator-free, that there's plenty of beach critters for them to eat, and visitors follow dog leash-laws!
Here are updates organized by beach sites:
Kehoe (K)
This site generally has lower breeding activity than other beach sites. There are currently no active nests here, but there is at least one pair of plovers showing signs of nesting.
Abbotts Lagoon Restoration Area (RA)
This area was restored to native dune habitat in 2011 and had peak plover breeding activity in 2014–2015, in response to the restoration. However, common ravens coincidentally seem to love the restoration area as well, for the invertebrate food resources it provides. There are no known active nests in this area at this time.
Abbotts Lagoon to North Beach parking lot (NP)
This is typically one of our most active sites, but hasn't seen too much breeding activity this season. One nest was found on Saturday, May 25 near North Beach parking lot, but it was quickly depredated by a common raven by Sunday morning. However, another new nest was found ~¼ mile north of the aforementioned nest. Currently there is only one active nest on this stretch of beach.
North Beach (NB)
This is our most active site this season and is where we just had our first successful nest hatch. Two active nests remain, and both are projected to hatch in the next several days. It is hard to say where the male with the three new chicks will go, but, in past years, broods (aka a male with chicks) have moved north past North Beach parking lot and raised their chicks within the weekend beach closure. Only time will tell!
Limantour (L)
This site has seen a decline in breeding activity this season, likely due to loss of several breeding birds over the harsh winter. We haven't observed some of our usual banded birds that typically breed on this beach. There are a few pairs lingering that have shown signs of breeding activity, but we currently don't have any active nests here.
If you have any questions, please feel free to let Matt Lau, the park's Snowy Plover Ecologist, know via email. Thank you so much, again, for all your help!
Current Stats
- 16 nests so far this season
- 3 active nests
- 1 hatched
- 12 failed nests
- 3 chicks on the beach
- 0 chicks fledged
The first hatch of the season occurred south of North Beach parking lot! Here's a closeup of one chick and another (wet) chick underneath the father.
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