Overview
Hello Ploverites!
This will be the second to last update of the season—we're on the home stretch! Our last two snowy plover nests on the Great Beach have hatched and both broods have been spotted in the past week: one halfway between Abbotts Lagoon and North Beach, and the other near the Lagoon mouth. There are at least two additional broods still running around as well: one near the mouth of Abbotts Lagoon and one on Limantour Spit. That makes four remaining broods of about six to ten chicks.
The Royals Update
We sadly found the Royals' nest abandoned, the last known nest of the season. Both eggs were overdue to hatch by about a week and we observed the Queen well away from her nest during the day, when she should be incubating. And the Queen's nest is never late! It usually hatches within a day or two of the projected hatch date, sometimes even a day or two early. But there's still a brood, from a non-royal pair, to monitor on Limantour Spit and will hopefully fledge in the next few weeks!
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Matt Lau via email.
CURRENT STATS:
- 50 total nests this season
- 0 active nest
- 29 hatched
- 21 failed nests
- 6–10 chicks on PRNS beaches
- 14 chicks fledged!
An adult female (va:gg) that bred at Ten Mile Beach in Mendocino County this season, with a single fledgling from her nest. California State Park biologists reported this adult Point Reyes NS plover breeding at Ten Mile Beach and successfully hatched and fledged a chick with her mate!
Photo credit: © Alison Cebula / California State Parks, August 15, 2023.
Another game of find the snowy plover chick! A single chick hides among woody beach debris from a biologist. August 2023.
Photo credit: NPS/Matt Lau
Trap camera photo of the last nest on North Beach, with a snowy plover chick standing outside the mini-exclosure, waiting for its siblings to hatch. Bonus points to whoever can name the shorebird species roosting behind the exclosure! North Beach, August 15, 2023.
Photo credit: NPS/Matt Lau
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