22 Snowy Plover chicks on the beach!
As of July 9, twenty-two chicks were hatched and running on the beach. That’s significantly more chicks than we’ve had in previous years at this time which is great news for the threatened Western Snowy Plover. Snowy plover chicks are precocial birds meaning they are able to walk around and start foraging for food within hours of birth. This also makes them vulnerable to predators. The mother bird leaves once the chicks are hatched to find a new mate and start a new nest while the father stays with the chicks to protect them until they fledge. The dads must be very busy with this many chicks on the beach. Good luck, dads!
The majority of Western Snowy Plover chicks are hatching between North Beach and Abbotts Lagoon this year which means docents have been stationed at North Beach all summer to enforce the beach closure between the north end of North Beach and the south end of Abbotts Lagoon and to ensure dogs are on leash. Dogs are not allowed at Abbotts Lagoon so the need for docents is less critical there. Biologists Matt Lau (Point Reyes National Seashore) and Carleton Eyster (Point Blue Conservation Science) have been generous in stopping at the docent table and sharing photos and videos of newly-hatched chicks as they return from the beach. We docents are excited to get a tablet soon (fingers crossed) to share these cute fluff ball pics and videos with visitors.
By luck, I ran into Carleton on the Abbotts Lagoon Trail over the fourth of July weekend and he shared a photo of chicks he had just banded. See photo below. Later, Matt shared a photo of the very creative wire exclosure he had customized to fit this challenging nest wedged between driftwood. A great protected place to nest but difficult to enclose. The exclosure is meant to keep out predators but the chicks and adults can move freely in and out. The final photo is all three chicks newly hatched and banded.
Visitors were awesome again this weekend with all dogs on leash. I’m especially grateful to our locals who are ambassadors and model good behavior to visitors. Thank you! So many sweet dogs to greet as I roved the beach talking to visitors. This week’s most unusual dog was a pug-chihuaha mix — a chug. Anything mixed with a pug is bound to be cute.
One thing visitors likely do not realize is putting up tall driftwood poles on the beach creates a perch for predators, such as ravens, to watch and hunt plovers. We need to emphasize this in our training and outreach to visitors. I can certainly appreciate the esthetic beauty of these driftwood creations along the beach and on the cliffs, but it’s important to protect the plovers, so I praise the creation but knock them down as I encounter them.
Roving the beach as a docent gives me the chance to meet some amazing people. I was thrilled to meet two local women who started their own coffee-roasting business, Cute Coffee. They were recently featured in the Point Reyes Light. I can’t wait to try their coffee at Brickmaiden Bakery and other places in Point Reyes and beyond. They were amazing.
I also met an incredible college student, Tommy who was out surfing and hiking. He’s studying biology and the environment in central California and is working with UC Davis. Tommy was familiar with the plovers both farther south along the coast and in the north. He had a chance to talk to Matt Lau, our snowy plover biologist and program manager, about the work happening in Point Reyes to help snowy plovers thrive.
Meeting amazing people wasn’t one of the reasons I volunteered to be a Snowy Plover Docent, but I’m finding it’s a wonderful benefit. In addition to meeting interesting visitors ranging from locals to people from around the world, the docents themselves are really interesting. You don’t need to be a social “people person” to volunteer as a docent, but if you are, this could be a very engaging volunteer activity for you. Consider joining next season. In the meantime, follow Matt’s regular Snowy Plover Updates.