Monitoring western snowy plovers at Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, California: 2015 annual report

Campbell, Carolyn; Press, David

This report details the results of the 26th year of the western snowy plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus) monitoring program within Point Reyes National Seashore (PORE), Marin County, California. The goal of the 2015 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 2015 snowy plover monitoring program on federal lands and summarizes the results of the data collected during the field season. In 2015, survey crews conducted 275 snowy plover surveys at PORE. There were 161 surveys conducted between Kehoe Beach and North Beach parking lot, 84 in the 2011 Dune Restoration Area, 9 from North Beach parking lot to South Beach parking lot, 1 from South Beach parking lot to the Lighthouse Beach, 19 on Limantour Spit, and 1 on Drakes Spit. A minimum estimate of 38 plovers bred in PORE. Exclosures were placed around 32 of the 49 nests located in 2015, and four of the exclosed nests failed to hatch. Thirty of the 49 nests hatched at least one egg and 80 of 131 total eggs hatched. Nineteen of 80 chicks survived for at least 28 days after hatching, for a 23.8% fledging rate. The number of fledglings per egg was 0.15, compared to 0.14 in 2014 and an average of 0.28 since exclosures were first used in 1996. The 2015 season resulted in a below average hatch rate in both nests and eggs. However, the number of fledges was above average and the highest since 2007. The large dune restoration area created in 2011 south of Abbotts Lagoon has been diligently maintained by the PORE coastal dune restoration team. Restoration efforts continued in 2015 with minor retreatment. 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). The 2011 Restoration Area was utilized by snowy plovers in the 2015 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 6,752 visitor contacts on weekends and holidays in 2015. Efforts this season focused on the Abbotts Lagoon trailhead, Abbotts Lagoon shoreline and North Beach Parking lot. Docent efforts were extended to include Kehoe beach sporadically during the summer. 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: 2015 annual report

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