David, Entry #2, The Plover Plot Thickens

After two weeks of working with Piping Plover I have realized that the plot, so to speak, of this story of survival has thickened greatly. New Jersey's piping plovers are on a steep decline. Over the past decade the state has implemented partial beach closures in an effort to reverse this trend. A partial beach closure involves fencing off the areas birds are nesting, but allowing people to use the areas near the water (intertidal zone) for recreation. This approach has not worked. Really the only way to save this species is to have complete beach closures until the population rebounds and then switch to partial beach closures (at least that's the general consensus I've been noticing). The problem is, while the government has the legal authority to do this, it will never happen because the general public would be outraged. People love their beaches, and very few are willing to give them to plovers. Over the past week we've noticed people walking in the fenced off nesting areas. We've seen people trying to walk their dogs where there are very vulnerable chicks. On more than one occasion people have gone out of their way to make us aware of their disagreement with closing the beach for "just birds." I've learned an important lesson: it's emotionally difficult to be a wildlife biologist. How do you get someone who only cares about their tan to care about another living creature? How do you convince an entire town to give up it's beach for a bird? How to you prove to very narrow minded people plovers are important? While my work is mostly qualitative and relatively simple compared to complex lab work, it's mentally and emotionally demanding in a way other fields of science aren't. One of the researchers I work with, who has studied piping plovers her entire career, put it best saying that as an endangered species biologist you feel the triumphs and failures with the species. You struggle with the birds, and in some ways it's harder as a biologist because we can feel pain in ways plovers can't. We really care these birds.

Michelle (Grad Student) puts color bands on a day old chick named Sprinkles

Now onto a more positive topic. Chicks are hatching! One of the goals of this study is to assess the impact of human, mammalian, and avian presence on the birds, as well as determining the best breeding habitat types. This is done by monitoring the growth of the chicks. Chicks that live in the best conditions should grow the fastest, while chicks in poor conditions should have slower growth. At least that's the theory. Every chick is caught in 5-7 day intervals for measurements to assess health. The first thing we do is visually locate each chick in the brood. Each one of us targets one of the chicks (usually 2-3 per nest) and chases it. We very gently drop a pillow case over the chick and then carefully pick the young bird up. The whole process usually takes less than 15 minutes. While this does stress the chicks out, it is necessary. The NJ population of piping plovers has gotten so bad that we need to find answers to questions about their survival in order to inform conservation decisions.

Another aspect of the study is a re-sighting survey. We attempt to see every single plover in a given area. To do this effectively we need a way to identify each individual bird, so we give the adults color codes just like the chicks. Each bird has a 4 color code. Each color corresponds to a band that is placed around the upper leg. We conduct a re-sighting once a week, and after a season of data this can be used to calculate survivorship of the birds in various areas along the NJ shore. We can study both adult and chick survivorship and determine which is more critical to the stabilization of the population. This is important information because of newly developing predatory behavior. We observed for the first time that fish crows have associated food with the enclosures we construct. The enclosures protect the eggs, but the adult crows will wait until the eggs hatch, perch on the enclosure, and grab the chicks as they leave the enclosure. Additionally, adult mortality is significantly higher at nests that are enclosed, for similar reasons. NJ is at a point of controversy as to enclose nests or not. The data we are collecting on survivorship will help biologists piece together the puzzle.

Below is a picture of me releasing a plover after banding. Until recently there was a moratorium on banding piping plovers. My PI was actually the first person to hold a piping plover since it was listed as endangered, and very few have had the chance. It's a pretty cool thing. I'll say this: when you hold a plover you realize how truly vulnerable they are. I really hope our research helps to reverse the decline of this amazing species!