Overview
Hello Plover lovers! We are seeing an increase in reproductive success during these last few weeks of the breeding season; plovers have fledged six chicks in the past week and a half, bringing our total up to at least eleven fledglings for the season. Even more excitingly, we still have nine chicks on the beach with three more to potentially hatch!
We were surprised to find a new nest on Kehoe Beach this past week, within the fencing and close to the cluster of other nests that have been found there in the past few months. This is our thirty-fifth nest of the season. It's likely this nest has been present for the past couple of weeks and will likely hatch soon.
Here are updates organized by beach sites:
Kehoe (K)
There is a single nest active on this site (the one found this past week). "Bob", the father with adopted chicks (see the August 5 update for this story), was able to fledge both his own biological chicks as well as his two adopted chicks! Four chicks have fledged and four still remain; these will fledge at the end of the month.
Abbotts Lagoon Restoration Area (RA)
No plovers have been observed in this large native dune habitat in months, likely due to heavy nest loss earlier in the season and in past seasons.
Abbotts Lagoon to North Beach parking lot (NP)
No nests remain on this site, though there is a brood with two chicks still present approximately one mile north of North Beach parking lot. These are projected to fledge at the end of the month.
North Beach (NB)
We have not observed any nesting activity or adult birds on this site in the past week, but we will continue to survey for winter flocks.
Limantour (L)
The last nest on this site hatched this week, producing three chicks. This brood will fledge in mid-September, which is unusually late in the season!
South Beach (SB)
No breeding activity or adult birds have been observed on this site in the past few weeks.
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
- 35 nests so far this season
- 1 active nest
- 13 hatched
- 21 failed nests
- 9 chicks on the beach
- 11–13 chicks fledged
An adult male snowy plover performing a tail-dragging display, to lure biologists away from a recently hatched nest.
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