On behalf of our friends – the piping plovers, red knots, American oystercatchers, least terns, ruddy turnstones, black skimmers, and many others – Conserve Wildlife Foundation wishes you a happy World Shorebirds Day.
To learn more about our beach nesting birds work, click here.
You can click here to learn about our migrating shorebirds work.
And if you haven’t seen the Delaware Bay beach restoration video yet, enjoy it here!
Finally, you can help support our shorebirds work with a donation, or through volunteering on one of our shorebird projects.
Click here to make a donation to our shorebird work here!
One other fun way to cozy up to a bird this fall is to visit Unreal Birds, and consider making a purchase of those adorable birds. A portion of every purchase benefits CWF!
Plover populations at Malibu Beach in Egg Harbor Township are near a record-low this year due to predation, recreation activities and habitat loss. (c) Edward Lea
New Jersey’s Piping Plover population is at its lowest levels in decades, which raises serious concerns, but they also had one of their most successful years ever statewide in producing chicks. There is hope this will jump start the population again. To read the full article, click here.
To watch the video about this years Piping Plover population, click here
To learn more about CWF’s efforts to protect these birds, click here.
By Todd Pover, Beach Nesting Bird Project Manager and Stephanie Egger, Wildlife Biologist
The Bahamas piping plover survey tally board in the “central command” room at Schooner Bay Institute.
An integral part of this Bahamas trip entailed surveying several sites not previous covered on Abaco and revisiting some sites not checked since the 2011 International Piping Plover Census. Although we didn’t find large concentrations of piping plovers at any one new site, we did make some noteworthy discoveries.
One of the most exciting find was the resight of a piping plover that was banded on the breeding grounds last summer in Massachusetts as part of a flight behavior study. New Jersey also participated in this research and we briefly thought it might be one of the birds banded in our home state – but it turned out that it was banded (and nested) on Chapin Beach, Cape Cod and is wintering at Schooner Bay, Abaco (amongst 15 other piping plovers found on our survey). Continue reading “BAHAMAS PIPING PLOVER PROJECT”
This trip to the Bahamas we had three volunteers, piping plover experts, to help us survey stretches of Abaco that we have either not been able to survey or had limited opportunity to survey in the past. Our volunteers have a wide range of experience ranging from the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, Pronatura Noreste A.C. Mexico, and a wildlife consulting company in Virginia. Below is their experiences from the week. Enjoy!
Annette Scherer, Retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Endangered Species Biologist
Annette Scherer, retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Endangered Species Biologist (R), kayaking with Stephanie Egger, CWFNJ Biologist (L), to the marine flats in search of Piping Plovers.
When I retired a year ago after spending the better part of my career negotiating with stakeholders and regulatory agencies to balance piping plover protection with shoreline stabilization projects and human recreational use, I often joked that I was going to move somewhere with no plovers- no piping plovers, no snowy plovers, and not even mountain plovers. But when CWFNJ invited me along to survey for piping plovers in Abaco, Bahamas I jumped at the chance to learn more about piping plovers on their wintering grounds. My work with plovers in the northeast U.S. had focused on plovers on their breeding grounds where individual pairs of plovers fiercely defend their nesting territory. As a result, its unusual to see more than a pair of plovers and their brood of up to 4 chicks in a single spot. Here on the wintering grounds the bird’s habitat characteristics are very similar to that of their breeding areas – wide sandy coastal beaches, but their behavior is very different. The plovers congregate in small groups, roosting and feeding together. On my first survey day, I was thrilled to observe a group of eleven plovers roosting high on the beach. It was strange to see so many plovers calmly sitting together. Each bird was nestled down in a small depression that gave protection from the wind, reminding me of the shallow scrapes they make when building nests. It was great to finally see where the birds go when they leave the northeast and personally rewarding for me to now have observed the birds throughout their entire annual cycle. Continue reading “Volunteer Guest Bloggers – Bahamas Piping Plover Project!”
Piping plover roosting beach on the island of Eleuthera, Bahamas.
Up until now, nearly all of our piping plover conservation work in the Bahamas has been focused on the island of Abaco. One of the objectives of our Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund grant is to identify other islands and partners where and with whom the model we are developing on Abaco might be implemented as well. With this in mind, we spent the past several days on the island of Eleuthera.
Although we believe the basic elements of our Abaco work are transferable to other islands, a “one size fits all” approach may not entirely work. The various major islands are unified under the Bahamas flag, but each also has its own flavor, history, and way of life. The best analogy would be that they operate much like the individual states in the U.S.
On Abaco, we have been partnering with Friends of the Environment, a non-profit organization with a strong education and outreach component to all of their work – not so different from what we do here at the Conserve Wildlife Foundation. On Eleuthera we are hoping to partner with the Cape Eleuthera Institute (CEI) and The Island School. Although education is at the core of their work as well, it is also different in that they carry out and support primary research and host visiting scientists and students at their campus. Continue reading “Bahamas Piping Plover Project”
By Todd Pover, Beach Nesting Bird Project Manager and Stephanie Egger, Wildlife Biologist
The Bahamas Flag.
Those of us who study and work with piping plovers on the breeding grounds are pretty attached to “our” plovers. In truth, piping plovers spend more than half of their time in migration or on their wintering grounds, so for our Atlantic Coast population they are as much birds of the Bahamas as they are of the U.S. and Canada.
Shorebirds are not necessarily on the radar in the Bahamas, as much as more iconic birds like the flamingo or Bahama Parrot, but the public is slowly becoming more aware of them. A major part of our project is to elevate local awareness of piping plovers and the important role the Bahamas plays in their long-term survival.
To this end, we have developed a number of products and strategies to achieve this goal: a postcard, decal, in-school programs, sister school program, public presentations, and traditional and social media exposure. Lastly, we are producing a short video about the piping plover in the Bahamas that will be shown to students, the public, and visitors. Continue reading “Plovers in Paradise”
By Todd Pover, Beach Nesting Bird Project Manager and Stephanie Egger, Wildlife Biologist
Piping Plovers on exposed limestone shore in the Bahamas.
Today was a down day from a field research perspective, a chance to recharge. That said, our minds were still working – we are already thinking about what’s next for the project and planning our return trip early next year.
As we knew coming in, and now we both know firsthand, logistics are the toughest part of piping plover research here in the Bahamas. With hundreds of islands, cays, flats, and miles of shoreline to survey, many of them inaccessible, just getting to some of the sites is half the battle. Throw in unfavorable weather issues (i.e. wind and rain), a van or boat that doesn’t start, a survey that takes much longer to complete than anticipated…and well you get the picture.
And as we previously mentioned, piping plovers use different types of habitat here in the Bahamas and it is highly tide dependent – it is critical to be at the tidal flats at low tide, otherwise there are no flats or birds to see. Likewise, you need to be at roost locations at mid or high tide or all you’ll see are tracks in the sand to tease you. Continue reading “Plovers in Paradise”
By Todd Pover, Beach Nesting Bird Project Manager and Stephanie Egger, Wildlife Biologist
CWFNJ’s presentation at Friends of the Environment to the local Abaconian community on November 7, 2013.
Last night we presented for the Abaconian community at Friends of the Environment’s office on the international link of piping plovers between the Bahamas and the United States, draft results from the 2011 International Piping Plover Census, and the importance of the Bahamas to piping plovers. We had a decent turnout including David Knowles from the Bahamas National Trust and a writer from the local Abaco newspaper. We spoke at length with Abaco’s premier birder, Woody Bracey, who has helped with on the ground coordination for piping plover surveys over the last several years. We hope to work with Woody and other Abaconians to develop a citizen scientist network to survey sites that we have been unable to get to because of time or logistics (i.e. tide cycle, transportation to the site) and to have the network securely in place for the 2016 International Census. Continue reading “Plovers in Paradise”
By Todd Pover, Beach Nesting Bird Project Manager and Stephanie Egger, Wildlife Biologist
No piping plovers, but plenty of rain!
Today was a reality check – a reminder that not every day of the project can be a highlight reel. There was work from other projects to catch up on. We had a public presentation in the evening on the importance of the Bahamas for piping plovers and we had to finish prepping for that. The van needed to be gassed up and the biologists need fuel too so a trip to the grocery store was in order. And finally, it was pouring rain all morning.
Luckily, the sun peaked out mid-day, so we headed to Treasure Cay, a popular planned community and resort north of Marsh Harbor. On the surface the long beautiful crescent beach provided perfectly suitable habitat for piping plovers. However, expectations were not particularly high for a sighting because there is not a well established history of plovers at the site. And as it turned out, no piping plovers were found today. But determining both where birds are and aren’t present is an equally important part of the scientific and conservation process. Continue reading “Plovers in Paradise”
Banded Piping Plover at Stone Harbor Point, NJ. Courtesy of Tom Reed
On the beach nesting bird project we are normally busy this time of the year locating nests, putting up fence to protect nesting areas, and placing special predator cages around piping plover nests. This year we have added a new wrinkle – we are also conducting intensive piping plover band re-sighting surveys.
Those surveys are possible as a result of a research project being conducted in New Jersey (and Massachusetts) by the State University of New York – College of Environmental Science and Forestry on piping plover flight behaviors and patterns. About 30 plovers were colored banded here last year with more planned this season as part of the study. This has provided an exciting opportunity for us to answer some questions of our own that are not part of the research project itself, so the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey and the state’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program have teamed up to do near daily band re-sightings this spring and last fall. Continue reading “PIPING PLOVER BAND RESIGHTING IN NEW JERSEY”
