Threatened California species shuts down popular Point Reyes beach

Biologists consider every single precious nest from snowy plovers, 2-ounce shorebirds protected under the Endangered Species Act. Storms, wind, dogs, ravens and beachgoers are among the many threats to the next generation’s survival. 

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On a beach in the Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County, a designated monitoring team for the minuscule birds found three eggs in one nest on March 16. It marked the earliest start to the breeding season recorded in the area. 

The record-shattering March heat wave likely signaled the plovers to get started.

“When we get these early heat waves, it can kick-start the nesting season a bit earlier,” Parker Kaye, a biological science technician for the Point Reyes National Seashore Association, told SFGATE.

Although the many signs of premature spring in the West were unnerving for scientists, the unprecedented heat may have a silver lining for the plovers. In Point Reyes, the first nests do not typically appear until April.

“This gives them more opportunities to nest, in a way,” Kaye said. “Females can have upward of three, sometimes up to five nests, depending if a nest successfully hatches or not. So now, they have a bit more time.”

In 1993, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the western snowy plovers that breed along the coast from Washington to Baja California as threatened due to wild predators, people and habitat loss. Two years later, Point Reyes National Seashore, Point Blue Conservation Science and Point Reyes National Seashore Association formed a recovery effort. This has included protecting nests with cages, fencing off nesting areas on beaches and undertaking habitat restoration.

On Saturday, an annual beach closure begins. From Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, the stretch of sand between the North Beach parking lot and Abbotts Lagoon will close on weekends and federal holidays to give the plover chicks a fighting chance at survival.Additional parts of the shoreline can temporarily close through September, depending on the plover activity.

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In the Bay Area, Point Reyes marks key breeding habitat, though the birds are known to scurry across many popular beaches such as Ocean Beach in San Francisco.

The three eggs in the first nest in Point Reyes have now hatched. As of Friday morning, Kaye reported five more active nests in the seashore. “And today, that number should drop to four, which would be a good thing because that means one of the nests has freshly hatched chicks,” he said.

Last year, the researchers found around 50 breeding adults in the seashore. That’s still short of 64 breeding plovers, the recovery goal for Point Reyes. But it’s a positive sign, given the 39 birds recorded in 2016 and the rock-bottom low of nine in 2012.

Conservation efforts seem to be working, with population increases reported at sites across the plovers’ Pacific Coast range, according to Carleton Eyster, an avian ecologist for Point Blue Conservation Science who specializes in plovers.

“We believe that we can get to our recovery goal in Point Reyes with a little bit more luck,” he told SFGATE. “But you can’t have all your eggs in one basket. Plovers need more than one site, which is why we need protections across their entire range.”