Monitoring western snowy plovers at Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, California: 2014 annual report

Campbell, Carolyn

This report details the results of the 25th year of the western snowy plover (Charadrius nivosus nivosus) monitoring program within Point Reyes National Seashore (PORE), Marin County, California. The goal of the 2014 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 2014 snowy plover monitoring program on federal lands and summarizes the results of the data collected during the field season. In 2014, survey crews conducted 245 snowy plover surveys at PORE. There were 170 surveys conducted between Kehoe Beach and North Beach parking lot, 63 in the 2011 Dune Restoration Area (RA), 4 from North Beach parking lot to South Beach parking lot, 1 from South Beach parking lot to the Lighthouse Beach, 6 on Limantour Spit, and 1 on Drakes Spit. A minimum estimate of 29 plovers bred in PORE. Exclosures were placed around 25 of the 45 nests located in 2014, and eight of the exclosed nests failed to hatch. Twenty of the 45 nests hatched at least one egg and 54 of 108 total eggs hatched. Fifteen of 54 chicks survived for at least 28 days after hatching, for a 27.8% fledging rate. The number of fledglings per egg was 0.14, compared to 0.26 in 2013 and an average of 0.30 since exclosures were first used in 1996. The 2014 season resulted in a below average hatch rate in both nests and eggs. However, the number of fledges was close to the overall average and the same as 2013 after being well below average from 2008-2012. The large habitat restoration area (RA) created in 2011 has been diligently maintained by the PORE coastal dune restoration team. Additional restoration efforts continued in 2014. 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 2014 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 around 4,900 visitor contacts on weekends and holidays in 2014. Efforts this season focused on the Abbotts Lagoon trailhead, Abbotts Lagoon shoreline and North Beach Parking lot during the first half of the season. Starting July 4th weekend, docents’ efforts were extended to include 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: 2014 annual report

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