A reader sent me a link to a story in last Sunday?s Boston Globe about piping plovers on the Massachusetts coast.
The headline is ?The curious case of the piping plover,? and it is curious indeed when you considered the lengths we go to here at Cape Hatteras National Seashore under the consent decree to protect piping plover chicks.
We go to great lengths ? as in 1,000 meter buffers all around the nests after the chicks hatch.
In the Globe article, writer Kris Frieswick tells the tale of three pairs of piping plovers that are nesting with great success on one of the state?s busiest beaches ? Revere Beach, just a short distance from Boston, which attracts 2.5 million visitors annually.
A quick Google search turned up dozens of other articles about these plovers on Revere Beach and on other busy Massachusetts beaches.
The first plover pair showed up on the beach in 2007. Last year, there were three pairs that returned again this summer and are on track to do just as well with their nests that are on a narrow stretch of beach between a seawall and the water.
Besides the fact that these chicks have nested on what is essentially an urban beach, the other amazing fact is that they are having phenomenal nesting success.
Wildlife officials in most places, including our seashore, would like to see the piping plovers fledge 1.5 chicks per nest.
In Revere Beach, they are doing much better than that.
A pair in 2009 fledged all four of its chicks, and three pairs last summer fledged 11 of 12 chicks for a fledge rate of 3.66 per nest, which is almost unheard of on most beaches where the birds nest.
The birds apparently nest on the end of the beach that is less crowded, but with just symbolic string fences, the plovers seem quite happy.
?For piping plovers, if they fledge successfully, they will come back to the same spot year after year. It is interesting these birds have nested in the same spot. This year, they nested about 10 feet from the sidewalk. People could actually stand up on the seawall and look inside the nest,? said Becky Harris, who was then director of Mass Audubon?s Coastal Waterbird Program, in an Aug. 5, 2009 story in the Revere Journal.
In another article, Harris noted that the nesting plovers on Revere Beach were unprecedented.
?It?s amazing that they chose to nest on a heavily-used urban beach in fact, the oldest bathing beach in the country,? she said. ?It?s an indication that, with appropriate management and protective measures, we can have successful plover nesting and public use.?
Historically, wildlife experts have believed that humans were a main deterrent to successful piping plover nesting. Keep the humans as far away as possible, the theory goes, and the plovers will be more successful at fledging their young.
However, wildlife managers are now acknowledging that predators may be an even larger problem.
We have certainly seen that happen here at the seashore where most, if not all, of the plover eggs and chicks are lost to predation, or assumed predation.
The Globe article notes that ??the experts haven?t failed to notice that some of the most remote beaches can have the highest rates of predator attacks and therefore the lowest productivity among plovers. At the same time, some of the state?s busiest beaches have posted exceptional productivity rates.?
In the Globe article, Katharine Parsons, the current director of Mass Audubon?s Coastal Waterbird Program, said, ?It?s not always true that the most heavily used beaches are the most productive, but it?s something that looks like it might be a pattern.?
Several advocates for more reasonable beach access at Cape Hatteras have also noted in meetings and public comments that allowing people and vehicles on the beaches, especially at night, might help chase away the predators.
According to the Globe article, some wildlife officials have even wondered ?whether the smells of car exhaust and food are making it difficult? for predators to find the birds.
The writer of the Globe article also interviewed Nina Coleman, beach manager at Sandy Neck, a 6.5 miles stretch of barrier island beach in Barnstable ?that hosts hundred of off-road vehicles all summer.?
?And yet for all of its traffic,? the article says, ?Sandy Neck attracted 44 pairs of plovers this year, a record for the beach.?
Coleman thinks her town?s rules strike a good balance between nesting birds and people.
?There?s protecting the birds, which we all want to do,? she said in the article. ?But then there?s all this additional stuff that isn?t going to make any difference whatsoever but causes a lot of hardship on folks that want to recreate.?
This year, predators ate eggs and chicks from 18 of Sandy Neck?s 44 nests.
The writer raises this issue: ?It?s possible that one of the best ways to help plovers is continuing to let them live right up against people ? people who watch where they?re stepping and driving, to be sure, but who also by their mere presence scare would-be predators away.?
?At this point in the game,? Coleman said, ?we?re not the enemy any longer.?
Amen.
There are plenty of areas in Massachusetts, including Cape Cod National Seashore, that continue to ban people and vehicles from the beaches during the nesting season.
However, perhaps the experience of the plovers at Revere Beach and some other areas will cause wildlife ?experts? to question their ?science-based? approach to closing down huge areas of beaches to pedestrians and vehicles to protect plover chicks.
At the very least, the huge 1,000-foot buffers around the chicks deserve another look.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
The well-written and well-researched article in The Boston Globe covers other piping plover issues and is well worth reading. You can find it here:
http://articles.boston.com/2011-08-14/lifestyle/29887156_1_pairs-of-piping-plovers-beaches-chicks
And here is an article in the Revere Journal, about the piping plovers nesting at that beach:
http://www.reverejournal.com/2009/08/05/revere-beach-becoming-an-unexpected-bird-sanctuary/
