Monitoring western snowy plovers at Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, California: 2012 annual report

Campbell, Carolyn

This report details the results of the 23rd year of the western snowy plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus) monitoring program within Point Reyes National Seashore (PORE), Marin County, California. The goal of the 2012 monitoring effort was to determine abundance, distribution, and breeding success of snowy plovers nesting on federal lands within PORE. The report provides an overview of the 2012 snowy plover monitoring program on federal lands and summarizes the results of the data collected during the field season. In 2012, there were 137 surveys conducted between Kehoe Beach and North Beach parking lot, 14 in the 2011 Dune Restoration Area, 4 from North Beach parking lot to the Lighthouse, 7 on Limantour Spit, and 1 on Drakes Spit. A minimum estimate of nine plovers bred in PORE. Exclosures were placed around five of seven nests located in 2012, two of the exclosed nests failed to hatch. Five of seven nests hatched at least one egg and 15 of 21 total eggs hatched. Nine of 15 chicks survived for at least 28 days after hatching, for a 60% fledging rate. The number of fledglings per egg was 0.43, compared to 0.24 in 2011 and an average of 0.30 since exclosures were first used in 1996. This season resulted in a better than average hatch rate and the highest number of chicks fledged per egg since 1999, but the overall number of fledges remained well below average for the fifth year in a row. The large habitat restoration area created in 2011 was maintained diligently by the PORE coastal dune restoration team. Additional restoration efforts continued in 2012. Since 2001, over 250 acres of plover and rare plant habitat have been restored through the removal of invasive European beach grass (Ammophila arenaria) and iceplant (Carpobrotus edulis) near Abbotts Lagoon. This area was utilized by snowy plovers in the 2012 breeding season. The Western Snowy Plover Docent Program remains an important tool to educate park visitors about the plight of the western snowy plover and to minimize potential negative impacts from visitors, especially those with dogs. Docents made 4,742 visitor contacts on weekends and holidays in 2012. Efforts this season focused on Abbotts Lagoon trailhead, Abbotts Lagoon shoreline, and Kehoe Beach. Park managers recommend continuation of the docent program in future breeding seasons and a full-time seasonal docent coordinator is needed to recruit, organize, and lead the volunteer docents. To reach the US Fish and Wildlife Service recovery goal of 64 breeding birds on Point Reyes beaches, efforts to improve habitat on all current and historic breeding beaches and reduce the impacts of human recreation and natural predators on nesting plovers should be continued and expanded at PORE.

Monitoring western snowy plovers at Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, California: 2012 annual report

Series

Collections