Overview
Hello Ploverites!
We made it to the end of the snowy plover nesting season! Our team observed two fledges from the last brood of the season near the Abbotts Lagoon mouth, with the female still in attendance and watching over them. The two chicks being raised at International Bird Rescue have also passed their "fledge" date and can officially be included in the fledge total, which brings us to 31 fledges, an all-time record! Our last record was 28 fledges from the 2022 nesting season. The Bird Rescue chicks will likely be released at Abbotts Lagoon in the next couple of weeks.
Here are some preliminary statistics from this latest breeding season (disclaimer: numbers may slightly change):
In 2024, we conducted 276 total surveys on park beaches to determine abundance and distribution of breeding snowy plovers, including 28 surveys from trained volunteers: 41 surveys from the Kehoe trail to Abbotts Lagoon (K); 111 surveys from Abbotts Lagoon to North Beach parking lot (NP); 22 in the 2011 Dune Restoration Area (RA); 28 between North Beach parking lot and South Beach parking lot (NB); 4 from South Beach parking lot to Lighthouse Beach (SB); 42 on Limantour Spit (L); and 19 on Drakes Spit (DB).
A minimum estimate of 50 plovers bred at Point Reyes, a 4% increase in population size compared to 2023 (n = 48 birds). We continued to use the mini-exclosure (ME) design that we updated in 2022, based on designs from Point Blue Conservation Science and Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve. These updated MEs were placed around 37 of 41 nests located in 2024. Of the 41 nests, 28 hatched at least one egg and 79 of 110 eggs hatched. Hatch success for exclosed nests was 70.3% (26 of 37 nests). Hatch success for unexclosed nests was 66.7% (2 of 3 nests).
Thirty-one of 86 chicks survived for at least 28 days after hatching (36.0% fledge rate). The average fledging success rate in the previous five years was 37.3%. The estimate for per capita reproductive success (1.29) was much higher than in 2023 (0.84) and close to our estimate in 2022 (1.40), and higher than the 1.0 threshold that is needed to increase the population size (ignoring immigration and emigration into and out of the local population).
Table 1. Number of western snowy plovers nesting at PRNS 2012–2024.
| Year | Females | Males | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 9 | 9 | 18 |
| 2014 | 13 | 16 | 29 |
| 2015 | 16 | 22 | 38 |
| 2016 | 17 | 22 | 39 |
| 2017 | 19 | 21 | 40 |
| 2018 | 18 | 20 | 38 |
| 2019 | 10 | 13 | 23 |
| 2020 | 16 | 16 | 32 |
| 2021 | 16 | 17 | 33 |
| 2022 | 20 | 19 | 39 |
| 2023 | 23 | 25 | 48 |
| 2024 | 26 | 24 | 50 |
Table 2. Number of western snowy plover nests at PRNS by survey sector from 2012 to 2024.
Key to Survey Sector Abbreviations:
K = Kehoe trail to Abbotts Lagoon
NP = Abbotts Lagoon to North Beach parking lot
RA = 2011 Dune Restoration Area
NB = North Beach parking lot and South Beach parking lot
SB = South Beach parking lot to Lighthouse Beach
L = Limantour Spit
DB = Drakes Spit
| Year | K | NP | RA | NB | SB | L | DB | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 6 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| 2014 | 6 | 25 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 |
| 2015 | 8 | 22 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 49 |
| 2016 | 7 | 26 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 42 |
| 2017 | 5 | 22 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 46 |
| 2018 | 5 | 20 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 50 |
| 2019 | 7 | 13 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 35 |
| 2020 | 6 | 22 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 39 |
| 2021 | 10 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 33 |
| 2022 | 3 | 19 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 34 |
| 2023 | 8 | 23 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 50 |
| 2024 | 5 | 20 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 41 |
Table 3. Western snowy plover nest success at PRNS from 2012 from 2024. Fledged per egg is equivalent to Breeding Efficiency.
| Year | Number of Nests | % of Nests Hatched | Number of Eggs | Number of Eggs Hatched | % of Eggs Hatched | Number of Chicks Fledged | % of Chicks Fledged | Chicks Fledged per Egg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 21 | 52.4 | 58 | 30 | 51.7 | 15 | 50.0 | 0.26 |
| 2014 | 45 | 44.4 | 108 | 54 | 50.0 | 15 | 27.8 | 0.14 |
| 2015 | 49 | 61.2 | 131 | 80 | 61.1 | 19 | 23.8 | 0.15 |
| 2016 | 42 | 54.8 | 95 | 48 | 50.5 | 20 | 41.7 | 0.21 |
| 2017 | 46 | 45.7 | 119 | 56 | 47.1 | 23 | 41.1 | 0.19 |
| 2018 | 50 | 42.0 | 137 | 52 | 38.0 | 14 | 26.9 | 0.10 |
| 2019 | 35 | 37.1 | 83 | 33 | 39.8 | 16 | 48.5 | 0.19 |
| 2020 | 39 | 32.6 | 88 | 48 | 54.5 | 11 | 22.9 | 0.13 |
| 2021 | 33 | 51.5 | 83 | 47 | 56.6 | 22 | 46.8 | 0.27 |
| 2022 | 34 | 64.7 | 90 | 52 | 57.8 | 28 | 53.8 | 0.31 |
| 2023 | 50 | 58.0 | 133 | 78 | 58.6 | 21 | 26.9 | 0.16 |
| 2024 | 41 | 68.3 | 110 | 79 | 71.8 | 31 | 36.0 | 0.28 |
Productivity Stats
- 41 total nests this season
- 0 active nests
- 28 hatched
- 12 failed nests
- 1 collected nest
- 0 chicks on PRNS beaches
- 31 chicks fledged
Thank you for all your support this season!
Unbanded western snowy plover chick, approximately 2.5–3 weeks old. Limantour Spit, 2023.
Photo credit: NPS Photo / Matt Lau
The National Park Service shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein. These data and related graphics (if available) are not legal documents and are not intended to be used as such. The information contained in these data is dynamic and may change over time. The National Park Service gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of these data. For more information: https://www.nps.gov/disclaimer.htm