Above photo: A Piping Plover chick on Wells Beach in late May. Photo by Coastal Birds Project Technician Kaily Rich
Two weeks ago, the Coastal Birds Crew received some wonderful news: The first Piping Plover chicks of the season hatched! As of May 29, there are 10 chicks running around on Maine’s beaches, and many more are due to hatch over the next couple of weeks. Since a great deal of our management was damaged during the late May nor’easter, the Coastal Birds Crew has been hard at work repairing fencing and erecting “Chicks on Beach” signs to make sure that the beaches are as “chick safe” as possible. You can learn more about these post-storm repair efforts on our Instagram page!
Piping Plover chicks are precocial, which means they can leave the nest and feed themselves as soon as they hatch. So these little cotton balls can be found anywhere on the beach, including under your beach chair searching for some shade! It takes approximately 25 days for these birds to fledge and fly after hatching, so even though they are able to feed themselves they still rely heavily on their parents to defend them from predators.
When chicks encounter a predator (or what they perceive to be a predator) they will crouch and freeze, in the hopes that the predator won’t be able to see them—similar to a deer fawn! The parents will then try to distract the predator by sounding alarm calls and performing a broken wing display (a behavior meant to trick predators into thinking the adult plover is injured in order to lure it away from the chicks). While these are effective methods for deterring real predators, such as gulls, crows, and foxes, the chicks and adults will also display these behaviors in the presence of kites, Frisbees, drones, bikes, leashed dogs, or curious onlookers. This can distract adults from protecting their chicks from real threats and may discourage the chicks from feeding, which could decrease their chance of survival.
Luckily, there are plenty of simple actions we can all take to protect these birds in their most vulnerable stage and make sure that they grow up big and strong!
● Consider keeping all pets off of the beach until the end of the Piping Plover breeding season (September 1).
● Fly kites and play catch far away from all fenced areas.
● Fill in any holes you dig in the sand so the chicks don’t fall in and get trapped.
● Keep the chicks’ location anonymous to avoid attracting a flood of people to the area.
Additionally, since Piping Plover chicks are extremely cute, they can sometimes be subject to quite a bit of paparazzi! Therefore, our team at the Coastal Birds Project wants to remind photographers of some good ethical guidelines for taking photos of these birds. For a full list, please check out the Atlantic Flyway Shorebird Initiative’s Guide to Ethical Photography.
● Respect all signage and roped-off areas by keeping your distance and not lingering near the edges of the fencing.
● Always stay at least 25 yards (about 2 bus lengths) away from the birds.
● Keep the path from the bird to the shoreline clear so the bird can quickly access food.
● If there’s a crowd, encourage folks to disperse so they don’t overwhelm the birds.
● Do not use drones to take photos—the birds will think they are predators and will be scared off of their nests!
Thank you all for being Piping Plover protectors!
