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THE WILSON JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY . Vol 123. No. 4. December 2011 
plovers to abandon nesting attempts, explaining 
failure of nine nests where cause of failure was 
not identified. 
Nesting Wilson's Plover began earlier on St. 
Martin than described for populations within the 
United States. Wilson's Plover nests in the United 
States with the exception of a single March nest 
initiation date are initiated in April (Stevenson 
and Anderson 1994, Corbat and Bergstrom 2000). 
Bergstrom (1988) reported the first nest initiation 
on 15 April in Texas with two distinct peaks, 21- 
29 April and 18-31 May. Corbat (1990) reported 
the first nests occurred in Georgia in mid-April 
and nesting continued through June. Nest initia¬ 
tion on St. Martin appeared to occur at wetlands 
once ponds were nearly dry and provided 
adequate area for nesting attempts. There was 
little open shoreline along ponds prior to drying 
likely inhibiting nesting due to lack of suitable 
habitat. 
The second nest initiation peak in mid-Mav 
coincided with fledging of young for pairs that 
nested during the first nest initiation peak 
Multiple peaks have been described in previous 
breeding descriptions (Bergstrom 1988), that have 
been attributed to re-laying efforts of birds whose 
attempts during the first nest initiation period 
ailed. This was likely the case on St. Martin. 
Theie is a single record of a Wilson’s Plover re- 
aymg alter a successful nesting attempt in the 
? w A 3 ** (Corbat ‘"0> and, with the 
extended breeding season on St. Martin, this 
may be a possible explanation as well. 
Pairs that initiated nests earliest had the highest 
breeding success. I, is possible d 
have depredated JO of the later initiated nests, did 
not detect the plover colony until later in the 
season svhen nes, density increased SmaM 
amounts of water in the ponds early in the 
breeding season would have limited vehicle 
“° * ese arcas - ^creasing the likelihood 
teWcL " eSl W ° Uld ^ deS,r ° yed b - v “ 
Spacing between nests at sites on St Martin was 
flerent than at sites in the United Stales. Spacim- 
between nests ,n wetlands was close (mean 
' a " ce ,r l4J ln >- Bergstrom (1988) reported 
g eater distances between nests in Texas with the 
S Z T' f 5and mosI nesls — >£» ™ 
Mart" il rc tTa^ of nes,in S plovers on St. 
The amount of vegetation and other objects 
near nest scrapes appears similar to populations 
described in Texas (Bergstrom 1988) and Georgia 
(Corbat 1990). All nests were in areas that were 
underwater during the wet season and early pan of 
the dry season (Sep-Feb): little vegetation grew in 
these areas due to the hyper-saline nature of the 
ponds (90 ppt). Nest scrapes were most often in 
areas containing primarily bare ground with 
limited cover (vegetation or debris). The presence 
of cover or objects near nests may limit the ability 
of plovers to detect predators, decreasing nest 
success. 
Mammalian predation and human disturbance 
issues on St. Martin are due in large part to 
increased development of coastal and wetland 
areas. The available wetland habitat forplovercto 
breed and forage is decreasing as development on 
the island increases. St. Martin has recently taken 
steps in protecting wetland habitat, but enforce¬ 
ment to protect wetlands from encroachment by 
development is lacking and remains important in 
protecting critical plover habitat. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
We thank the Reserve Naturelle on St. Martin for 
allowing access to the wetlands of the Reserve on the 
French side of St. Martin. W'e thank Natalia Collier tor 
assistance in the field and for reviewing an earlier draft of 
the manuscript. W'e appreciate the suggestions of Sean 
McAllister and the reviews by J, A. Jackson. C. E. Braun, 
and an anonymous reviewer that improved the manuscript. 
This is EPIC Publication Number 50. 
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