Overview
Hello Ploverites!
We’ve missed a couple weeks of news so this update will include a bit more content! It's been a rough few weeks on the snowy plover front. On top of losing five adults from exclosed nests at North Beach earlier this season, hatchling survival has been dismal. Most broods haven't survived more than a week. Fifty-seven plover chicks have hatched since the start of the season: eight have fledged, nine to twelve are still running around on the beach with dad plover, and 37 have perished. We don't know for sure what is causing such low chick survival this season, but one hypothesis is predation. However, the plover team has not observed any noticeable increases in predator activity or numbers in plover nesting habitat.
In better news, we confirmed three additional fledges this week! Two from Limantour Spit and one from Abbotts Lagoon. This brings the season total up to eight fledged chicks. Six of these fledglings are from Limantour (by far our most successful site this season) and two from the Abbotts Lagoon area. Because of heavy nest and chick losses near North Beach, we have observed pairs shifting northward to establish nests during the last few weeks of the breeding season (i.e., Kehoe Beach and Abbotts Lagoon area). Limantour continues to see successful nesting activity, though we have lost a couple nests to tides and wind.
Winter flocks have already started forming—these snowy plover flocks consist of migrant and resident plovers who have given up on breeding for the season in addition to juveniles born this year. This time of year is also the start of the shorebird migration season—biologists have been observing more semipalmated plovers, sanderlings, least sandpipers, western sandpipers, whimbrels, and marbled godwits showing up as they make their way south.
The Royals Update
The last update on the Limantour Royals (av:ww male, av:bg female, and family) commented on the Queen's (av:bg) potential pairing with her 2022 offspring, va:ba male. It appeared this was a ruse and the Queen decided to wait until the King (av:ww) finished raising their hatchlings from their first nest. The King did fledge two chicks and the Royal Couple eventually paired back up to establish a new nest on Limantour Spit. This nest was quickly washed away by high tides last week, but biologists were able to locate a new, one-egg nest a bit farther east on the spit. The Queen will continue to lay the remaining two eggs over the next five days. The Queen's offspring, va:ba, eventually paired with a different female (va:aa), his sister! That nest did hatch and va:ba is now raising his own chicks.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Matt Lau via email.
CURRENT STATS:
- 47 total nests this season
- 7 active nest
- 22 hatched
- 18 failed nests
- 9–12 chicks on PRNS beaches
- 8 chicks fledged!
A new three-egg nest found on Kehoe Beach, hidden underneath native dune grass. July 2023.
Photo credit: NPS/Matt Lau
Two Limantour fledglings sticking together for safety. July 2023.
Photo credit: NPS/Matt Lau
Three snowy plover chicks rest inside of a hat, waiting to be banded.
Photo credit: NPS/Matt Lau
Three snowy plover chicks are hiding amongst this native dune vegetation. Can you spot all three? Abbotts Lagoon, June 2023.
Photo credit: NPS/Matt Lau
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