The
Least Tern & Snowy Plover Project
at
Huntington State Beach
|
| |
Least
Tern Eggs |
Least
Tern Parent incubating eggs |
Fledged
Least Tern Chick |
|
|
|
Photo
by Cyndie Kam |
Photo
by Cyndie Kam |
Photo
by Jim
Salywoda |
| |
Volunteer
docents are now monitoring the area where Snowy Plovers attempt
to nest every year and where California Least Terns are now
nesting. The area is located at the North side of the Santa
Ana River mouth at Huntington State Beach, accessed from the
Magnolia Street entrance.
The plovers cannot
compete with unaware beach users. The “Snowys”
hunker down in small impressions in the sand. Only very alert
people would even notice these tiny sand-colored birds, their
eggs or chicks. The terns, which are more numerous than the
plovers, have already set up nesting sites, and must protect
their nests and young from marauding birds, loose dogs, and
beach users.
The primary role
of the volunteer docent is to be a positive educator to the
public and a protector of the birds and their nesting area.
Information about the birds is generally very well received
by the public. Docents receive a short training session, an
instruction manual, a parking pass to enter this part of the
state beach for monitoring, and all information and materials
needed (just bring your own chair and binoculars).
It is not too late
for YOU to join this project! Volunteers are desperately needed
for 2 hour (or longer) shifts to protect the birds during
daylight hours. The days will be getting longer and foot traffic
on the beach will increase. Do you love the beach at first
light, evenings at dusk or anytime of day? Like to watch shorebirds?
Here’s your chance to enjoy it all, and at the same
time help the birds! |
|
The
Least Tern Monitoring Site
at Huntingon State Beach
|
|
|
|
A
volunteer monitor ready to begin a shift at the Least
Tern Preserve
|
Observing
inside the Preserve
|
Observing
beach activity in front of the Preserve. (It gets much
busier in the summer, the same time the terns are nesting
and raising young.) |
|
|
|
Looking
over the "front yard" for tern activity. They
nest here as well as inside the Preserve.
|
Looking for Snowy Plovers along the beach.
|
Monitor
recording sightings of Snowy Plovers, Least Terns, and
their potential predators as well as any contacts with
people. |
|
|
| For
information about the 2006 Nesting Season, click here. |
| For
information about the 2007 Nesting Season, click here. |
|
| Contact
Cheryl Egger if you would like to help with this project.
|
| Volunteers
are needed to sign up for 2 hour shifts to protect these birds
during daylight hours. If you can help, please contact
Cheryl Egger who coordinates the volunteers for this project
at
or 714-842-9232. For those of you who enjoy
watching shorebirds, this is a great opportunity to study these
birds at close range. The nesting site is part of Bolsa
Chica State Beach; volunteers will receive a free pass to enter
this section of the beach for this project. |
|
Informative
websites that provide additional information on the Western
Snowy Plover and the California Least Tern:
|
The
California Least Tern
and the Western Snowy Plover in Orange County
by Cheryl Egger |
| |
| Even
though the endangered California Least Tern and the threatened
Pacific coast population of the Western Snowy Plover prefer
the same beach habitat for breeding, they require different
approaches for protection from predators and human interference.
Historically, both of these species were abundant along the
Pacific coast. Both species nest in the sand by scraping a small
depression with their belly and lining it with pieces of shells,
stones, or fragments of nearby substrate. The eggs and chicks
of both species are speckled, so the nest, eggs and young are
extremely well camouflaged and can be easily stepped on. Both
species breed during spring and summer, coinciding with heavy
beach activity. Due to human disturbance, loss of habitat to
development, and the increase of predators brought with urbanization,
there has been a decline of useful breeding habitat for Least
Terns and Snowy Plovers. The remaining breeding areas are fragmented,
concentrated, and surrounded by development or human recreational
activities, making management and predator control essential |
| |
| In Orange
County there are only four breeding colonies of Least Terns
(Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington State Beach, Upper
Newport Bay and Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge). The Snowy
Plovers are breeding in only one location in the county, at
Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve. All of these breeding areas
require close monitoring and management for success. |
| |
| The
Least Terns are migratory and are colonial nesters. They have
an interesting defense system of their own against predators.
Up-flights of large numbers of terns from the colony dart through
the air, diving at the intruder, while calling loudly and even
defecating on the intruder (monitors need to wear hats). The
tern parents make shallow dives from the air for small fish
along the near waters of the coast and its estuaries, making
the adults and young vulnerable to fish abundance, and oil spills.
They bring the fish to their semiprecocial young. |
| |
| In a
fenced-in colony, the young will wander about, but are restricted
to the colony until they are able to fly over the fence. Low,
fine meshed “chick fencing” keeps the chicks and
pre-fledglings from wandering out where they could easily be
stepped on or predated. These fences provide some protection
from terrestrial predators and humans, but not from avian predators.
Areas along the shore are also needed by the terns for the adults
to teach the fledglings how to fish and for all of them to loaf.
The beach location of the colony at Huntington State Beach is
heavily used by people, constantly disturbing and distressing
the birds at this stage. The fledglings and adults disperse
both north and south along the coast, possibly to find locations
where disturbance is minimal, before migrating south. |
| |
| The
Western Snowy Plover is not migratory, but disperses along the
coast in winter. This species faces even more challenges to
a successful breeding season. They nest individually or in loose
colonies. The young are precocial and run about within a few
hours of hatching. They need to be able to leave their nest
area in search of food so an enclosed colony such as those provided
for some tern colonies would not be an option for the plovers.
Their feeding method is to run and glean. They glean invertebrates
from the wet or dry sand or wave-tossed kelp. Over the years,
as the plovers became increasingly disturbed by people using
the same habitat, they stopped nesting and raising young on
Orange County beaches. |
| |
| The
Snowy Plover breeding population at Bolsa Chica is closely monitored.
If a nest is found, a mini-exclosure (“ME”) fence
is put over it. These fences have kept nest predation down by
preventing access by most predators, but have large enough openings
to allow the plovers to get out. The plovers do not stay at
the protected nest for very long after the young have hatched.
Both the adults and chicks are vulnerable to the abundant predators
in the area as soon as they venture outside of the “ME”.
|
| |
| A five-year
review of the Pacific coast population of the Western Snowy
Plover by UFWS noted that the overall population has increased
in its entire range, due to active management. However, the
same threats still exist and population sizes are still low.
One recommendation that was made to further promote recovery
was to reestablish breeding populations to beach habitats in
Southern California. |
| |
| The
Sea and Sage Audubon Conservation Committee is launching an
education campaign on the California Least Tern and the Western
Snowy Plover, beginning with a very interesting field trip,
scheduled for March 8. Please see the trip details on page 10
and watch for further information about this program. |
| |
| If you
would like to help with the Snowy Plover/Least Tern monitoring
project at Huntington State Beach, please attend our kick-off
gathering and orientation on April 18 at 7:00 PM at the lifeguard
headquarters at the Magnolia Street entrance to Huntington State
Beach. Peter Knapp, Photographer of the Natural World, and monitor
of the Snowy Plovers at Bolsa Chica, will be there with a fantastic
slide presentation and will explain the breeding biology of
both species. We will be in our third year of volunteer monitoring
at this colony and we appreciate any time you can give to help
the birds. After volunteers attend an orientation, they become
State Park Volunteers and are given a badge that is used for
identification and free parking. At this colony, you have the
opportunity to observe the tern nesting, chick rearing and fledging
first hand and at the same time realize that you have helped
these species survive. Please consider being an ambassador for
these birds, they need our help. Contact: Cheryl Egger at
. |
|
| Literature
Cited: |
| 5-Year
Review, California Least Tern, USFWS |
| 5-Year
Review, Short Form Summary, Pacific Coast Population of Western
Snowy Plover, USFWS |
| Birds
of North America Online, Snowy Plover and Least Tern Monographs |
| Draft,
California Least Tern 2006 Summary Table, USFWS |
| Life
at the Ocean’s Edge, The Western Snowy Plover and
the California Least Tern, Video, produced by La Purisima Audubon
Society and Pygmy Mammoth Productions, 1999 |
| Listed
Bird Species, Western Snowy Plover, USFWS, AFWO, Endangered
Species Branch |
| Personal
Communication, P. Knapp |
| Personal
Communication, D. Pryor |
| Western
Snowy Plover - Sharing the Beach, California State Parks |
| Western
Snowy Plover Nesting at Bolsa Chica, Orange County, Calilfornia
2004, J. Fancher, P. Knapp, L. Hays, USFWS, Jan. 2005 |
| Western
Snowy Plover to Retain Threatened Status, USFWS, April 21, 2006 |
|
