Mrs. Plover, on her nest, safe inside her exclosure, I hope.
I spent last Saturday morning helping out the volunteers of the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds during Op Sail at Harkness Memorial Park in Waterford, Connecticut, where thousands of people were expected to throng the beach to view the parade of tall ships. My task was to try and keep people from roaming the area of the beach which has been roped off to protect nest areas used by the federally and state threatened Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus). These small migratory shorebirds have been nesting on our shoreline for thousands of years but their numbers have declined dramatically due to human real estate development and roaming predators such as unleashed dogs, cats, gulls, rats and raccoons. The nest sites are protected by wire fencing called exclosures. I found people to be largely understanding of the Plover’s situation and interested in the literature I gave them about the Plovers. There was still one active nest. Mrs. Plover’s first nest was destroyed and the eggs eaten by an unleased dog. Her second nest failed when we had torrential rains and the nest was washed away. She is now on her third attempt and needs about another week before the eggs hatch. Let’s hope she makes it.
We were lucky in a way that it was foggy and the boats were difficult to see from the park. Many people left for better viewing spots when that became obvious, so the expected throngs didn’t materialize. For information about the program and the Plovers, check out this site: http://ctwaterbirds.blogspot.com/2012/05/piping-plover-chick-foraging.html
UPDATE: On July 23rd Mrs. Plover hatched five chicks. Mom and children are doing well!
A Naturalist's Table 