A successful piping plover monitoring and habitation creation program and the support it has garnered from island communities is being lauded by Fire Island National Seashore officials as numbers of piping plovers nesting and fledging in Fire Island are once again approaching a record high.
Most recently, a pair of piping plovers whose nest disappeared soon after it was discovered in the wilderness area, re-nested and laid four eggs in the same region less than a week later. It is the 17th plover nest recorded on Fire Island this season, said Fire Island National Seashore chief of resources management Mike Bilecki.
The plover couple’s first nest, in the wilderness area, was most likely lost to predation, he said. The four eggs in the second nest have since hatched, and two to three chicks are remaining. Officials won’t know how many of those chicks will fledge, or fly away from the nest, until the third week in August.
Of the 17 nests that actually produced birds, three have yet to fledge. Thirty-two chicks in the remaining 14 nests have fledged, just three short of the total number of chicks to fledge last season on Fire Island. The other three nests could result in nine more fledged chicks. If all those chicks were successful in fledging, 41 chicks will have flown away from their nests this year, six birds more than last year’s total of 35.
“It’s been a good year – our best yet,” said FINS acting superintendent Barry Sullivan. “We’ve shown a continual increase in the number of plovers.”
Bilecki added that with the increase in plovers came an increase in locations where plovers chose to nest. Plover eggs have been recorded this year at the Lighthouse area, Sailor’s Haven, Barrett/Talisman, Watch Hill, the wilderness area, Smith Point and, for the first time since FINS began observing the bird nearly 20 years ago, in Fire Island Pines.
“The National Park Services would like to thank the communities for their support of the endangered species program of the Fire Island National Seashore,” said Sullivan, expressing special gratitude to the Pines and Point O’ Woods for dealing with any inconveniences caused by the presence of plovers in or near their areas.
He also thanked the communities affected by the installation of symbolic fencing on their beaches – a condition of the issuance of the beach renourishment project permit. Conditions of the project, which was completed in January of this year, called for the installation of fencing meant to protect and preserve potential piping plover habitat in Fair Harbor, Saltaire, Dunewood, Lonelyville and the Pines.
“The folks [in those areas] were really helpful,” said Bilecki.
Almost 70 eggs were laid in plover nests around Fire Island this season, with 60 hatching and 32 chicks so far surviving.
No plover carcasses have been found this season, he said, a clear indication that crows, seagulls and possibly fox have preyed on the plovers.
If more than 35 chicks fledge by month’s end, this will have been the most productive season since FINS began monitoring the endangered shorebirds in 1986.