Snowy Plover Docent Final Day at Abbotts Lagoon
My 8th and final volunteer shift as a snowy plover docent on August 31, 2024 was a gorgeous day with friends. We were fully staffed with 6 docents — Jocelynn, Rick, Liz, Lisa C., Joan and myself. I was excited to end the season with my docent “besties”, Joan and Lisa. We’ve been volunteering together for several seasons. Joan always prints valuable information about the birds and plants that have been seen in the area to share with visitors. She is a wealth of information. Lisa is very knowledgable about North Beach.
The highlight of the day was seeing humpback whales spouting and breaching close to the beach. They were feasting on herring. It was unclear whether it was one group feeding in the same area for hours or multiple groups passing through. The amazing thing was we could see them from the trailhead — nearly one and half miles away — with the naked eye! Many visitors reported seeing them throughout the day.
One visitor spotted what looked like a turkey vulture with a gray head instead of red. Jocelynn looked it up in our bird book and the visitor confirmed it was a juvenile turkey vulture. That may solve the mystery of a visitor who claimed to have seen two condors feeding on a deer carcass a month ago - quite possibly juvenile turkey vultures.
As of the last snowy plover update on September 6th, a record-breaking 31 chicks have successfully fledged. Matt Lau, NPS wildlife biologist reported that 31 of 86 chicks survived for at least 28 days after hatching (36.0% fledge rate). It underscores why every single bird that survives is a victory. We are trending in a positive direction and this threatened population is slowly increasing. Read about it in the weekly snowy plover update.
Good luck to the overwintering plovers!
Stay tuned for Winter Wildlife Docent adventures in 2025. If you are interested in volunteering for the 2025 season, the first two days of a 3-day training starts the weekend of November 16-17. Learn more about the WWD program.
