Overview
Hello Ploverites!
Since our last snowy plover update two weeks ago, the Point Reyes snowy plover team has confirmed a minimum of nine fledglings from the first round of nests! There are likely several more because our team has been having difficulty locating and identifying newly fledged juveniles for broods that we are confident are still alive and active, particularly at North Beach. The adult males of these broods are also very experienced in hiding their chicks on the upper beach and in the European beach grass (*gasp* yes, one benefit from the presence of this invasive species!). We only had one fledgling at this point of the nesting season last year and only two in 2022. We still have two and a half months of the nesting season to go!
On the other hand, nest survival was rough last week—four nests were over-washed by the unusually high tides and sneaker waves, and another was likely overtaken by sand due to strong winds. Two of these nests were on Limantour Spit, two at North Beach, and one on Kehoe Beach. With this wave of nest losses and broods fledgling, we are expecting to find many new nests in the next couple of weeks.
At this time, we have two active nests on Limantour Spit, one on Kehoe Beach, two in the Abbotts Lagoon Restoration Area, and four on the beach between the Abbotts Lagoon mouth and North Beach parking lot.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Matt Lau via email.
CURRENT STATS:
- 31 total nests this season
- 9 active nest
- 14 hatched
- 8 failed nests
- 10–14 chicks on the beach
- 9 chicks confirmed fledged
Three-egg nest hidden in a dense debris field halfway between Abbotts Lagoon mouth and North Beach parking lot.
Photo credit: NPS/Matt Lau
Three western snowy plover chicks rest and stay warm inside a beanie after color banding at North Beach.
Photo credit: NPS/Matt Lau
Nest exclosure and symbolic fencing that were washed over by the latest king tides and sneaker waves at North Beach. Two nests at this site were lost last week.
Photo credit: NPS/Matt Lau
A 3.5-week-old western snowy plover chick hiding in a woody debris field on the upper beach near North Beach parking lot.
Photo credit: NPS/Matt Lau
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