OVERVIEW
Hello Ploverites! The last western snowy plover nests have hatched in the past couple weeks and we are now focused on monitoring broods until they fledge in early to mid-September. We are currently at 17 fledged chicks for the 2021 season, and we could potentially reach 21 if the five remaining chicks survive to fledge! For comparison, we observed 11 fledged chicks during the 2020 breeding season.
Here are updates organized by beach sites:
Kehoe (K):
The last brood from this site fledged a single chick, bringing our season total up to 17! The breeding season has wrapped up on this site but there is a "winter" flock that will persist going into the winter season.
Abbotts Lagoon Restoration Area (RA):
This is currently our most active site: two broods with four chicks are running around near Abbotts Lagoon. No other nesting activity remains here.
Abbotts Lagoon to North Beach parking lot (NP):
We no longer have any known breeding activity left on this site, though the broods in the Restoration Area sometimes venture out onto the outer ocean-fronting beach at the north end of this site, near the Abbotts Lagoon mouth. Winter flocks can be found near North Beach parking lot, near the lagoon mouth, and in front of the Abbotts Lagoon restoration area.
North Beach (NB):
No snowy plover breeding or flocking activity has been detected here recently.
South Beach (SB):
No breeding activity has been observed at this site this year.
Limantour (L):
There is still a brood with a single chick and no nests remain.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Matt Lau, the park's Snowy Plover Ecologist, via email.
CURRENT STATS:
- 33 total nests this season
- 0 active nest
- 17 hatched
- 16 failed nests
- 5 chicks on the beach
- 17 chicks fledged
A newly hatched chick hiding from biologists amongst woody and kelp debris.
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