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Browsing posts tagged with: endangered species

Piping Plover Nesting Update

Posted on: Thursday, June 13th, 2013

With nice weather due to return for the weekend here in Maine, we would like to take a moment for a short update on our Piping Plover Monitoring Program.

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After the storms in late April, a group of plover/endangered species biologists from United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) and Maine Audubon met to tour some of Maine’s plover beaches. Maine Audubon staff biologist, Laura Minich Zitske, was on hand to share an update on the many issues plovers face. The group surveyed beach and dune damage from the winter and spring storms and examined proposed and existing seawalls to better understand how can balance the needs of people and birds.

On a southern Maine plover nesting beach ... surveying conditions.

Everyone is checking out the male plover know as “Bahama Papa” (pictured below) Joining Laura was Kate O’Brien- Refuge Biologist at Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge (USFWS), Kaiti Titherington- Plover and Tern Technician at RCNWR (USFWS), Mark McCullough- Endangered Species Specialist, Maine Field Office (USFWS), Laury Zicari- Field Supervisor, Maine Field Office (USFWS), Anne Hecht- Endangered Species Biologist (USFWS), Lindsay Tudor- Shorebird Biologist (MDIFW), Charlie Todd (Endangered & Threatened Species Coordinator (MDIFW)

Seawalls may help protect homes from storm damage, but they may ultimately destroy the very beach on which people built homes to enjoy. When waves hit the sea walls, it encourages increased speed of the water, picking up sand in the wave actions. Thus, we see much greater erosion around the walled sections of beach; the sea walls also prevents the natural rebuilding of beaches. This not only hurts people who enjoy the beach, but the nesting habitat for the endangered Piping Plover,  which have only 43 nesting pairs in Maine.

Nesting Conditions and Damage to Habitat Caused by Storms and Tides

When we get storms rolling in with full moon tides the landscape on our beaches can change fast. The storm damage to dunes has been so extensive on one particular beach that Laura  noted, “I barely know how to orient myself on this beach because there is so much dune washed away.” In the photo below, she demonstrates the approximate height of what was the leading edge of the dune before the most recent erosion after the storm/tide combination of late April.

Laura Minich Zitske, staff biologist and piping plover project manager shows the previous approximate height of the dune before the storm.

Seasonal biologist Caroline Cappello took the photo below of an enclosure which originally cordoned off a full section of dune before the storm; after the storm, more than three feet of dune was lost.

exclosure-erosion

Pictured below is the nest which used to be under the above exclosure. Our staff were able to safely remove the enclosure and the parents returned to tend the brood.

Nesting piping plover.

Nice Weekend Coming – Please Be Alert!

If you like to enjoy walks on a beach and see the sign in the photo below, please keep your pets on a leash and maintain a good distance from the chicks who start life little larger than a typical cotton ball.

A typical nest exclosure. This helps keep predators out and allows the plovers to come and go.

A typical nest enclosure. This helps keep predators out and allows the plovers to come and go.

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Not only are the chicks small, but they also blend into the sands of the beach. This was taken from more than one hundred feet away with a 400mm lens.

Pictured below: seasonal biologist, Traczie Bellinger, and intern, Mary Badger, spotting the chicks pictured above, which were then only a few days old.
Seasonal biologist and spotting the then few days old chicks.

Some playfulness between male and female.

Some playfulness between male and female.

A plover on the outside of an exclosure.

A Plover on the outside of an enclosure which demonstrates how the Plover can easily fit through the fencing while a cat or other predator could not.

Learn about “Bahama Papa” – named for his location when first banded

“Bahama Papa” was first banded in the Bahamas in 2010 and has been seen on the same stretch of beach in Maine every summer since. Each winter he has been observed on the same stretch of beach on Grand Bahama where he was originally banded. In his Maine summers, he has already fledged 8 chicks!

We saw Bahama Papa on April 29. As of today, we know he has a mate and they have been scraping nest spots there is no definitive word as to whether or not Bahama Papa will be a father for another year.

This is "Bahama Papa" who has been seen in southern Maine a few years now and was first banded in the Bahamas.

This is “Bahama Papa” who has been seen in southern Maine a few years now and was first banded in the Bahamas in 2010 and has fledged eight chicks!

 

 

Piping Plover Outreach

Posted on: Monday, August 20th, 2012

In addition to management and other activities in the field, outreach is a critical component of the Piping Plover and Least Tern Recovery Project. Our team regularly organizes outreach sessions to talk with beachgoers, beach residents/landowners, local beach associations, lifeguards, police, school kids and others. The goal of our outreach program is to educate people about Piping Plovers on their local beaches–we tell them about the biology of the birds, the challenges they face, and what we can all do to help protect them.

In July and August, our team talked with two groups of elementary and preschool children at the Goose Rocks Beach Association summer camp. About 70 curious kids attended and showed a lot of enthusiasm for learning about these birds. Their questions were very astute, like “why do plovers pretend to have a broken wing when approached by people?”  During the most recent session, kids enjoyed creating their own Piping Plover chicks made out of cotton balls and dry spaghetti (see photos). They also played a game to learn more about where plovers live, what they eat, and what likes to eat them. At the end of the sessions we handed out cool Piping Plover temporary tattoos. The first session was such a hit, that they requested another session the following month!

In addition to the above efforts, our team also regularly sets up a table near beaches where plovers nest to talk more informally with beachgoers about the birds.

So far this summer the Maine Audubon team has talked to over 3,700 people about Maine’s Piping Plovers. We are looking forward to continuing outreach activities next season and we encourage private associations and other groups whose activities are related to conservation or environmental education to contact us to organize educational talks and activities.

Written by Erik Ndayishimiye

 

Conserving Maine’s Wildlife On and Along Roads

Posted on: Thursday, April 5th, 2012
Related Documents

Wildlife Biologist and GIS Manager Barbara Charry appeared on MPBN’s Maine Watch with Jennifer Rooks .

Barbara discusses the proposal for an east – west highway across Maine between Calais and Coburn Gore. Of particular concern to Maine Audubon are the impacts to wildlife and wildlife habitat caused by a new highway and high levels of traffic.
The show aired on MPBN Television at 8:00 pm, Thursday April 5, 2012. The show rebroadcasts on Friday evenings at 9:00 pm and Sunday afternoons at 5:00 pm. An audio version of the program airs on MPBN Radio at 12:30 pm on Friday afternoons.

Watch: MPBN provides the ability to watch the show on it’s website here, and you may download the show as a podcast.

Barbara Charry is a Wildlife Biologist and GIS Manager at Maine Audubon. Over the last 12 years, the focus her work has been the impacts of sprawling development on Maine’s wildlife, particularly roads.

She became a state leader in this work in 2001 when Maine Audubon became a founding partner of Maine’s nationally acclaimed Beginning with Habitat program, an innovative public/private partnership that provides practical tools for Maine communities to incorporate wildlife and habitat conservation into local land use planning.

Under Barbara’s leadership, Maine Audubon convened the first-ever state-wide conference on road ecology in Maine.  She has written several guides for land use decision makers and community members on the impacts of development on wildlife including a community conservation guide, “Conserving Wildlife On and Around Maine Roads”.