NATURALIST'S 



NOTEBOOK 



with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. 



But whatever the season, the number 

 of piping plovers continues to drop. 



Fussell, for example, recalls 100 

 piping plovers wintering at the Rachel 

 Carson Reserve when he started counting 

 30 years ago. Now his counts total only 

 about a dozen. 



And Marcia Lyons cites more recent 

 years when Cape Hatteras National 

 Seashore had 1 5 nesting pairs in a spring 

 season. "We had four pairs in the park this 

 year," says Lyons, a National Park Service 

 field biologist. "We are losing breeding 

 pairs." 



A decade ago, Fussell says about 55 

 breeding pairs were counted in the state. 



In 2000, the Fish & Wildlife Service 

 counted only 24 pairs, 16 of those were in 

 the Cape Lookout National Seashore. North 

 Carolina accounted for only 13 fledglings 

 — young birds that survive long enough to 

 take their first flight. 



At Cape Hatteras, only three chicks 

 made it to the fledgling stage. At Cape 

 Lookout, only eight fledglings were 

 counted. At Lea Island, two fledglings were 

 counted from one nesting pair. But at Pea 

 Island and Huttaff, an island near Figure 

 Eight, the pairs produced no fledglings. 



The overall fledgling rate for North 

 Carolina is 0.54 per nesting pair, well 

 below the desired productivity rate of 

 1.5 fledglings per breeding pair. 



NESTING GROUNDS 



Fussell points to a loss of habitat. 

 "They want the ends of the islands where 

 the young can feed eventually," he says. 

 "They have the most narrow habitat 

 requirements of the ground-nesting 

 waterbirds in the state." 



Piping plovers prefer to nest in flat 

 sandy areas near the inlets. Both the eggs 

 and the hatchlings can blend well into the 

 sand and small pebbles. 



The small birds — measuring only 

 7 inches and weighing only 2 ounces as 

 adults — may resemble sandpipers darting 

 about between the tidelines. The Fish & 



Visitors to the North Carolina coast 

 should watch for piping plover nests 

 from April, when the first nests are laid, 

 to August, when the last chicks may be 

 taking their initial flight. 

 The nests are built in depressions 

 in the beach near the dunes. 



Often they are lined with 

 small pebbles or bits of shell. 



Wildlife Service notes the adult's yellow- 

 orange legs, black band across the forehead 

 from eye to eye, and a black ring around 

 the base of the neck. In the late 1 800s and 

 early 1900s, the population was decimated 

 because the feathers were popular in the 

 millinery industry. 



The plovers that do nest in North 

 Carolina are not banded for identification, 

 because handling can injure the tiny birds. 



"We don't know if they are the same 

 birds," Lyons says. "My gut feeling is that 

 they are returning," she says. 



Moody agrees that the birds tend to 

 remember locations of successful nests. 

 "We believe they have a strong sense of 

 fidelity," he says. These successful nests 

 tend to be in areas restricted from develop- 

 ment: state and national parks, wildlife 

 refuges or estuarine research reserves 



The North Carolina sites are at the 

 southern end of the coastal nesting range 

 that extends north into Canada. Thus, heat 

 could be a factor. As could a lack of 

 appropriate insects and invertebrates that 

 are plovers' main source of food. 



Then there are the predators — 

 including natural predators such as 

 raccoons, mink or gulls. But the seashores 

 are also home to countless feral cats, so 

 many that the park service sets traps to 

 humanely catch the cats and give them to 

 local animal shelters. 



And it may take only seconds for a 

 dog running off-leash to disturb or destroy 

 nests while the dog's owner is jogging 

 nearby or absorbed in beachcombing. 



Visitors to the North Carolina coast 

 should watch for piping plover nests from 

 April, when the first nests are laid, to 



August, when the last chicks may be taking 

 their initial flight. The nests are built in 

 depressions in the beach near the dunes. 

 Often they are lined with small pebbles or 

 bits of shell. 



Park staff, the Fish & Wildlife Service 

 and local volunteers monitor areas known 

 for past nests. Once a new nest is identified, 

 an "exclosure" fence is constructed to keep 

 predators — birds and mammals — away 

 from the eggs. But, Lyons adds, the 

 exclosures sometimes draw curious 

 humans, who may damage important 

 habitat near the fencing. 



TAKING FLIGHT 



Piping plovers take their parenting 

 duties seriously. Both male and female 

 watch fiercely over the nest eggs and later, 

 the downy chicks. 



The eggs are minded for about 25 

 days. The hatchlings have about another 

 three to four weeks before they take flight. 



While the public is told to keep a 

 distance from the piping plovers, photogra- 

 pher Michael Halminski has worked with 

 park service staff to monitor the nesting 

 patterns along the Outer Banks. 



There is no instant gratification in his 

 work — catching the birds on film is a 

 challenge. "You need to keep your 

 distance. They are so small," he says. 



He recalls visiting one nest where the 

 hatchlings had quickly grown and were 

 ready for flight. "Of course the young birds 

 are about the same size as the adults," he 

 says. 



The birds were fairly active — even 

 approaching as he kept still in one spot. 



"I saw a young one with an adult and 

 it was stretching its wings," he says, 

 recalling the astonishing moment. "You 

 could see it coming. The chick stretched its 

 wings out. It flew 40 or 50 feet, and we 

 were ecstatic." 



He caught that flight, and will 

 continue to work with the park service on 

 the project. "Every time I go out to visit the 

 sites, I don't know what to expect," he 

 says. □ 



24 HOLIDAY 2000 



