Put yourself in their nests
New to North Fork beaches? Don't step on the piping plover eggs.
4 comments below
These are just a few of nuisances that plague mating pairs of piping plovers and least terns, said Raema Obbie, a monitor with the North Fork Audubon Society. The endangered birds now look after their eggs and young behind fenced-off sections of local beaches.
"It's good for people to know what they do," said Ms. Obbie, 22, a recent graduate of Stony Brook University who monitors Southold's piping plover and least tern populations for the group.
Though the number of breeding pairs of piping plovers has increased in recent years, their productivity remains "stochastic," Ms. Obbie said. "That means there is a lot of unpredictable variability due to environmental factors and demographic changes. So we're still quite a ways away from meeting the recovery goal for the species."
As the least terns -- the smallest of their kind in the U.S., according to Ms. Prentice -- flew in the crisp, windy morning, Ms. Obbie explained their behavior.
This piping plover is half of the one mating pair nesting in a small fenced-off section of the causeway beach on Nassau Point. Only six more pairs can be found nesting on the North Fork this season, said monitor Raema Obbie.
And those eggs, lying in little divots on the open beach, look like rocks.
"The eggs are so camouflaged, people step on them," Ms. Prentice said.
At the Nassau Point beach, about 20 least tern couples have nests within a roped-off enclosure, and a pair of piping plovers takes care of its own behind a small fenced-in portion of the beach.
Ms. Prentice said the nest is called a scrape -- that little divot in the sand. The baby terns stay in the scrape after they've hatched, waiting for food from their parents. In this regard, they're safe. But unlike the young piping plovers, they can't move away from a predator. Piping plovers have the ability to run and fly right out of the hatch.
Ms. Obbie said she hopes the piping plovers finish laying eggs by late June, when the beaches start to get busier. She noted that most passersby are very accepting of the roped-off portions of the beaches.
"I see mothers with their kids, pointing at the birds," she said.
When homeowners are involved in the process on their properties, she said most are enthused.
"People get excited to be a part of protecting an endangered species," she said.
Both women said that they think the people who are most aggravated by the beach enclosures are those who want to drive on the beaches. But, said Ms. Prentice, that's more of a problem in the Hamptons.
Even so, driving on any beach is bad for the birds, because it leaves ruts in the sand, where the chicks naturally drift and often get stuck -- meaning certain death when another vehicle comes through.
"There's not much they can do," said Ms. Obbie.
That's another reason why Ms. Obbie said she cannot fathom the "Piping plovers taste like chicken" bumper-sticker trend -- or the annoyance with her work.
"We like the beach," she said. "But [the birds] need the beach."
eschultz@timesreview.com
Beaches where you can expect to see protected piping plover and least tern habitat:
* Breakwater Beach, Mattituck Inlet
* Little Creek (aka Causeway Beach), Nassau Point
*¬ Jamesport Town Beach, Jamesport
* Gull Pond West, Greenport
* Corey Creek, Cutchogue
*¬ Miamogue Point, Jamesport
* Goldsmith's Inlet, Peconic
* Hallocks Landing, Jamesport
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4 comments found
piping plovers : 6/14/2009
We are tax-paying property owners who have made it easier for large numbers of people to launch boats from trailers, at no charge, over the years. We haven't worried about "loosing our creeks." We love the fact that these birds are being protected. They are part of what makes it fun to walk on the beach. We think this is a great project.
Antartic? : 6/12/2009
Actually, that is not true. People are greatly affected. There is so much beach blocked off on Fire Island it is complete and total overkill. Of course it affects property values. Educate yourself. Why would anyone want to buy a house in a town where the majority of the beach is so blocked off there is no longer room for volleyball, frisbee, etc. without tripping all over people? With the little space left, Fire Island is becoming Jones Beach with everyone piled up on top of each other. And if they do find significant nesting - YES - they will absolutely 100% close down total areas of beach and restrict usage to all. They are already making kite-flying illegal in some areas. Check out some other northeast beaches where the communities have lost significant beach - in some areas 100% - you are naive if you think this can't happen here. It can - and this is just the beginning. Antartica? Really? That's your solution? That's just stupidity.
People still have the beach : 6/11/2009
No one is "completely shutting down beaches," and a few fences hardly affect people at all. How would an admirable conservation project do anything but HELP property values? If you want complete isolation, buy some beachfront in the Antarctic.
People need the beach! : 6/11/2009
Ridiculous. The media is clearly not reporting on the needs of people using our beaches for recreation! Completely shutting down beaches, or taking square footage that is completely out of proportion with both human and bird needs is only hurting the bird. Creating animosity towards the bird by hurting beach-front property values and not allowing people to enjoy their public beaches is only a detriment to the Piping Plover. I can tell you honestly that most people ARE NOT "excited to be a part of protecting an endangered species" when it means having to give up their freedoms. AND MOST OF THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT DRIVERS. Again - just really ridiculous.
