Snowy Plover Docent Day 7 at Abbotts Lagoon
My volunteer shift as a snowy plover docent on August 18, 2024 was a short one — I only stayed until noon when I had to leave to attend another event. I was joined by fellow docent, Cheryl and we had a fairly quiet morning. We saw the usual majestic Northern Harrier diving over the pasture, not far from the trailhead.
We like to ask visitors what they are hoping to see on their hike, and upon their return to the Abbotts Lagoon trailhead we ask what they actually saw. It’s interesting how different the responses can be. Many visitors are eager to see the river otters and, of course, the snowy plovers. They were in luck! An expanding flock of snowy plovers are gathering for the winter at the mouth of the lagoon. The count is up to 60 birds - including a few fledglings from this season. We let visitors know to watch for plovers hunkered down in the vegetation if they don’t spot them moving around on the shoreline. The river otters are elusive and you need some luck to see them.
The day before, I led a hike for the Marin chapter of the California Native Plant Society at Abbotts Lagoon. In preparation for that hike, I visited Abbotts on Monday and Tuesday earlier that week. Even though most of the vegetation is dried up this time of year, many flowers are going strong at Abbotts including the rare elegant rein orchid nestled among taller grasses and the sunny gumplant grindelia with its golden flowers, a beacon for pollinators and other insects. Since I had been on the trail three times that week and I had to leave early, I decided to stick around the trailhead to talk to visitors rather than roaming the trail. At noon, I hurried off and hoped Cheryl would not be on her own for too long.
As of August 23, twenty-five chicks have successfully fledged and three more are running around on Point Reyes Beaches in the Abbotts Lagoon area soon to fledge. Matt reports that the plovers are losing their breeding plumage so it’s difficult to differentiate males and females though it may be easier to recognize juvenile snowy plovers which have white edges on their feathers and are paler overall. Read about it in the weekly snowy plover update.
My last volunteer day is labor day weekend on August 31. Stay tuned for more snowy plover adventures.
