Western snowy plover

Conservation

Since 1993, the U.S. Pacific coast population of snowy plovers has been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. It’s estimated that only about 2,500 snowy plovers breed along the Pacific Coast from early March to late September. Today, only 28 major nesting areas remain.

Plover nesting areas, which are out in the open in mere divots on sandy beaches, are destroyed as a result of human disturbance, predation by animals and inclement weather. An adult snowy plover scurries away when its nest is approached, and it may be hours before the bird can return. While it’s away, its eggs can be crushed, overheat in the sun or become a meal for a watchful predator.

The snowy plover’s nesting season occurs during the summer months when people visit beaches the most. Human activities, such as walking, jogging, running pets, horseback riding and vehicle use, are key factors in the ongoing decline in breeding sites and populations. Non-native European beachgrass and urban development also contribute to habitat destruction for the declining snowy plover population.

A research organization called Point Blue Conservation Science has a team of biologists that monitor snowy plovers in the wild. When they find an injured chick or abandoned eggs, they bring them to a snowy plover rehabilitation facility.

As part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Snowy Plover Recovery Plan, California State Park employees, biologists and volunteers fence off some vulnerable nesting areas during breeding seasons to fend off people and predators, and keep an eye on snowy plover nests.

The snowy plover is considered “Near Threatened” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).

You can help snowy plovers by sharing the beach during the breeding months—March through August. Keep pets on a leash and stay below the tide line while strolling on the beach to minimize disturbance of nesting sites.

Cool facts

• A snowy plover chick is about the size of a person’s thumb when it hatches, but its legs are the size they will be as an adult.
• A male and female share incubation duties. The female typically deserts the chicks shortly after hatching, leaving the early chick-rearing duties to the male, which looks after the chicks for about a month until they fledge.
• A female snowy plover may breed with more than one male, re-nesting if another male is available and if there’s enough time remaining in the season. For the last brood of the season, the female generally assists the male in caring for the chicks.
• The male and female defend their nest territories from other plovers by posturing, chasing or fighting. Sometimes a bird may use its bill to grab and pull on its enemy’s tail feathers, turning in circles all the while.
• An adult plover doesn’t feed its chicks—instead, it leads them to suitable feeding areas. The chicks leave the nest within hours after hatching to search for food. The snowy plover typically forages for small invertebrates in wet or dry beach sand, among kelp washed ashore by the tide and in low foredune vegetation.