Yes, it was another record-breaking season! Breeding pairs of Piping Plovers hit a record high in 2025 reaching 174 pairs, smashing 2023’s record of 157 pairs. A total of 251 chicks fledged, only one chick shy of reaching 2022’s record number of fledglings, resulting in a productivity rate of 1.44 chicks fledged per pair. Although this is a little lower than the 1.5 chicks per pair we aim for based on recovery goals, with more breeding pairs than ever and good productivity in prior years we are optimistic for another great season in 2026.
This year, two nesting sites that have never hosted Piping Plovers had nesting pairs: Richmond Island in Cape Elizabeth and Sandy Point on Chebeague Island. Chebeague Island recorded four breeding pairs, a record high for the island, fledging a total of six chicks. Speaking of record highs, Wells Beach topped the charts again this season with 23 breeding pairs of plovers that fledged a total of 45 chicks. These are record highs for Maine in terms of both the number of pairs on one beach and number of fledglings off one beach!
Two pairs of plovers called South Beach on Long Island home this season, yet another record high, but unfortunately no chicks fledged. Along with Wells, Chebeague, and Long Island, six other sites had record-high nesting pairs this season including Drakes Island (Wells), Parsons (Kennebunk), Fortunes Rocks (Biddeford), Scarborough Beach State Park, Richmond Island, and Head Beach (Phippsburg). Ten sites had a productivity equal to or more than two chicks per pair, including Moody (Wells), Marshall Point and Goose Rocks (Kennebunkport), Higgins Beach and Ram Island Farm (Scarborough), Head Beach and Seawall (Phippsburg), Indian Point (Georgetown), and Mile and Half Mile Beach (Reid State Park, Georgetown). Several other beaches also sported impressive numbers, such as Ogunquit, Goose Rocks, Western (Scarborough), Seawall, and Scarborough Beach State Park, which all had 12 or more breeding pairs. Additionally, Head Beach, which has not been occupied by plovers since the early 2000s, hosted two Piping Plover pairs this summer.
Although we have been seeing outstanding numbers at many of our beaches, we saw plovers struggle at some beaches this year. The nearly seven-mile stretch from Camp Ellis to Pine Point Beach only fledged three chicks despite having 13 nesting pairs. This area includes Ferry Beach (Saco), Goosefare Brook, Ocean Park, Old Orchard, and Pine Point Beach. Rachel Carson National Wildlife beaches only fledged eight chicks, six from Parsons and two from Marshall Point, resulting in a total productivity of 0.46 chicks per nesting pair. Plovers face a number of threats from off-leash dogs, predation, habitat degradation, and human disturbances that all contribute to low hatching and fledging success.
So what is working to help to recover Maine’s Piping Plover population? It is the teamwork and collaboration of so many different organizations and people that have helped their population to flourish over the years. With increased public awareness and supportive landowners up and down the coast we are able to share the shore with these endangered shorebirds.
