Overview
Hello Ploverites!
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.
Last week, Ryan DiGaudio, one of the Point Blue Conservation Science biologists assisting the project, encountered an interesting situation with a brood that had just hatched at North Beach. He found both parents, male and female, tending to three chicks from their nest that had hatched a day or two prior. But he was shocked to find two additional chicks on the ground with them! The adult plovers were caring for five total chicks! We speculated that these additional chicks were adopted from another nearby nest that had hatched around the same time; the male from this nest was found to only have one chick. It’ll be interesting to see how this brood will fare in the coming weeks!
Here are updates organized by beach sites:
Kehoe (K):
One nest remains active at the north end of Kehoe Beach and is projected to hatch almost two weeks from now. We haven't detected any other pairs on this stretch of beach for the past couple of weeks.
Abbotts Lagoon Restoration Area (RA):
There are currently no active nests within the RA, but it appears that broods (i.e., males with chicks) are utilizing the expansive restoration area to protect the chicks.
Abbotts Lagoon to North Beach parking lot (NP):
Only three active nests remain, one of which is due to hatch this weekend; the other two will hatch at the end of the month. There are currently seven active broods here! This means there are up to 20 chicks! We haven't had this many active broods since I started since I started here in 2016.
North Beach (NB):
There hasn't been any breeding activity between North Beach and South Beach parking lots since the start of the season.
South Beach (SB):
No breeding activity has been observed at this site this year.
Limantour (L):
There are no active nests, though we suspect a pair will establish a new nest in the next week. One brood remains active with a single chick.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Matt Lau, the park's Snowy Plover Ecologist, via email.
CURRENT STATS:
- 29 total nests this season
- 4 active nest
- 17 hatched
- 8 failed nests
- 22 chicks on the beach!
- 6 chicks confirmed fledged
© Point Blue Conservation Science / Carleton Eyster
A newly hatched snowy plover chick at North Beach. Notice the white tip to the bill—this is the egg tooth! A holdover adaptation from reptiles, which helps the chick break out of the egg; it’ll eventually fall off within a few hours of hatching. Thus, this chick is only a few hours old!
© Point Blue Conservation Science / Ryan DiGaudio
There are five chicks hiding in this photo! Can you find them? Two of these chicks were adopted by a male and female; they are raising a total of 5 chicks!
© Point Blue Conservation Science / Ryan DiGaudio
Five chicks from two separate nests, currently being raised by an adult male and female.
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