About This BlogDuring the western snowy plover breeding season, park docents help monitor and protect nesting sites and help create awareness and educate visitors about this threatened species and its life cycle. Visitors have expressed interest in the plovers and are pleased to have staff and docents in the field answering all types of naturalist questions. Through the summer, park staff create updates to let staff, volunteers, and visitors know the latest on what is happening out at the nesting sites. Click on one of the links below to find out how the Snowy Plovers at Point Reyes were doing at the time. To learn more about becoming a Snowy Plover Docent, please visit our Volunteer page. Snowy Plover Update - July 8, 2022
July 08, 2022
Most of the snowy plover nests on North Beach have hatched during the past week and a half—seven in total! One additional nest is projected to hatch this weekend. We're expecting new nests to pop up in the next couple of weeks, which will possibly be the last collection of nests for the season. The majority of nesting activity this season has been at this site—between North Beach parking lot and the Abbotts Lagoon mouth. Snowy Plover Update - June 30, 2022
June 30, 2022
We had an exciting number of snowy plover nests that hatched in the past week—five from North Beach and one on Limantour Beach. Three of nests likely hatched on the same day, all on North Beach, which has not happened since before 2016. This means we have 14 plover chicks running around on Point Reyes' beaches! We are now in a period where a series of nests have hatched, freeing up females to depart the chicks to find another mate and establish a new nest. Snowy Plover Update - June 24, 2022
June 24, 2022
We have entered the latter half of the snowy plover nesting season—both nest and hatchling survival tends to increase dramatically during this period. We believe this is the case because there are fewer common ravens observed roaming the beaches during this time. We expect several nests to hatch in the next week, primarily on North Beach; one nest is due to hatch this weekend on Limantour Beach, near the main access. Snowy Plover Update - June 15, 2022
June 15, 2022
We now have four confirmed snowy plover fledglings this season! One chick from Limantour Beach and three chicks from North Beach have survived to 28 days after hatching. The males from these broods will likely depart these fledglings to find new mates and establish new nests. The fledglings may stick around or may disperse and fly to other sites along the coast. Snowy Plover Update - June 10, 2022
June 10, 2022
We have our first two confirmed fledges of the season! Two snowy plover chicks survived to 28 days after hatching on June 5, 2022; a Point Blue Conservation Science biologist observed both chicks with their plover dad running around in the Abbotts Lagoon restoration area on June 9; this is approximately 1.7 miles north of their nest site location on North Beach! We have another round of nests projected to hatch in the coming few weeks, mostly along North Beach. Snowy Plover Update - May 28, 2022
May 29, 2022
The snowy plover breeding season is well underway. We found our first nest of the season on April 4 on North Beach. It's been an uncharacteristically busy season since! Nest success is usually low during the first half of the season (i.e., March–May), but we have been able to find and protect nests with exclosures quickly to prevent any depredation by common ravens and other predators. Because of this, many nests have been surviving and several have hatched already! |
Last updated: July 18, 2022