Final weekend of snowy plovering at Abbotts

Snowy plover docents Jeff, Lena, and vickie at abbotts Lagoon

Labor Day weekend marks the end of the Snowy Plover Docent program each year. This year the program was shorter due to COVID constraints and I was only able to sign up twice due to a busy schedule. This meant I had to really savor both opportunities! I was thrilled to work with Vickie for the first time and we got a surprise helper mid-day, long-time docent Jeff. Abbotts Lagoon was our location to set up the snowy plover information table and the weather was quintessential Point Reyes — mild and overcast with a veil of fog resting on the distant hills and ocean. We spoke with nearly 200 visitors on Saturday September 4, many of whom were visiting Abbotts Lagoon for the first time.

I hiked to my favorite spot for lunch - on the bluff overlooking the lagoon and ocean. On my walk I spotted three coyotes, a garter snake, a blue heron hunting in the lagoon, several butterflies, lots of insects, and the usual friendly white-crowned sparrows. I didn’t see the otter family but Sarah Killingsworth, a brilliant local nature photographer, had seen all five otters very early that morning. Most people were headed to the beach but were curious enough to check out our display table and ask a few questions. I love hearing what brings people to Point Reyes and Abbotts Lagoon. Some people visit regularly for the amazing birding, others enjoy the easy walk that meanders through coastal scrub, marsh, and pasture to the lagoon and then through the sand dunes to the ocean beyond.

In the early afternoon, Matt Lau, Snowy Plover Ecologist for the Seashore and docent program manager stopped by and gave us an update on the snowies. There are no longer any active nests, but two broods of chicks will be fledging by the end of next week! Fledging is when the chick develops wing feathers capable of flight. One brood is ready to fledge on Limantour Beach and the other near Abbotts Lagoon.

• 33 total nests this season as of 9/3/21

  • 0 active nests

  • 17 hatched

  • 16 failed nests

• 2-5 chicks on the beach

• 17 chicks fledged (compared with 11 fledged chicks during the 2020 breeding season!)

Here are some highlights and summaries from the 2021 breeding season from Matt Lau, Point Reyes National Seashore:

• We switched to smaller exclosures (i.e., mini-exclosures or MEs) that measure 2ft tall and approximately 2-2.5ft wide, to reduce exclosure visibility to predators and visitors. This has been an effective design for other Recovery Units managing snowy plover productivity.

• Two broods were found in the Abbotts Lagoon area that originated from unknown nests. Both broods fledged 3 chicks! Unfortunately, we were unable to capture them, as all 6 were at least a week old when found (i.e., they were too fast for us to capture!).

• We do not yet know the estimated breeding adult population size but we suspect that it’s similar to the 2020 breeding season of around 32-36 individuals.

• We confirmed a mother-son plover pair nesting near South Beach, the second case of confirmed inbreeding in the Point Reyes population since the chick banding program began in 2015. The second known case occurred in 2019, which was a brother-sister pair.

• We only observed 5 confirmed common raven nest depredation events this season, out of 16 failed nests (compared to 12 of 22 failed nests in 2020).

• We observed 2 nest failures due to unknown predators (possibly common ravens) and 9 nest failures due to abandonment and environmental factors (i.e., tides and wind events).

• All 3 nests on Limantour Beach this season (all from the same female, av:bg!) successfully hatched, and 2 of these nests successfully fledged one chick! If the current active brood is confirmed fledged this Sunday, Sept 5th, then all 3 nests will have fledged 1 chick! Some history about the female associated with these nests: av:bg female actually hatched and fledged from Limantour Beach in 2017 and has bred on this beach every season since (and winters there too!). She was one of 3 chicks that fledged from her cohort but we have not observed her siblings in Point Reyes and they haven’t been reported elsewhere along the coast.

Read more about the 2021 breeding season in Matt’s Snowy Plover Updates 2021 on the Point Reyes National Seashore website. Below are a few beautiful photos from Matt’s updates that show how well the plover chicks blend in with the sand and beach debris of their environment. The top of their bodies imitate speckled sand making them difficult to spot. I’m captivated by their big eyes and tiny fluffy winglets. Quite simply, they melt your heart. Go snowies!

Check out Snowy Plovers at Point Reyes and learn about becoming a Snowy Plover docent next season.

Matt Lau, NPS: A newly hatched chick hiding from biologists amongst woody and kelp debris.

Matt lau, NPS Newly hatched and banded (av:vo) chicks near the Abbotts Lagoon restoration area.