Nature Conservancy Magazine: Summer 2007

Endangered piping plovers are now thriving in Cape May, New Jersey.

Join the Piping Plover Patrol

Volunteers are needed from April through August to educate beach visitors and monitor and fence nesting areas.

Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge, New Jersey: Contact Alyssa Allen at aallen@tnc.org or (609) 861-4120.

Quicksand Pond/Goosewing Beach Preserve, Rhode Island: Contact Cheryl Wiitala at cwiitala@tnc.org or (401) 331-7110, extension 25.

Jones Beach, Long Island, New York: Contact the Jones Beach Nature Center at (516) 679-7254 or e-mail
Annie McIntyre at annie.mcintyre@oprhp.state.ny.us.

Plover Patrol

Army Corps Restored Endangered Bird Habitat

This summer, volunteers with the “piping plover patrol” will hike the New Jersey shore around The Nature Conservancy’s Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge to help protect the endangered shorebird from rambunctious beachgoers. The sand-colored birds, which sport bright orange legs, scrape out nests right on the beach, leaving them vulnerable to seemingly benign activities like sunbathing and dog walking.

While piping plovers have been in decline along the Atlantic Coast for years, the number of hatchlings under the patrol’s watch has grown substantially in the past two summers, thanks to a massive renovation of the piping plovers’ habitat.

Since 2004, the Army Corps of Engineers has managed the $18 million project to restore the beach, dunes and wetlands at the refuge and at the adjacent Cape May Point State Park. The Army Corps and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) are funding the project, which aims to reverse damage caused by shoreline erosion and storms that has enabled salt water to intrude into the refuge’s freshwater wetlands.

Since 2004, the Army Corps has replenished 1.9 miles of beach, built a new dune system, removed invasive weeds and restored an old stream channel. “This should have a phenomenal effect on providing good stopover habitat for migratory birds,” says Bob Allen, the Conservancy’s director of conservation science in the state.

At the Conservancy’s request, the Army Corps also constructed three plover foraging ponds and several “plover crossovers”—areas of gently sloping, vegetation-free dunes that provide safe routes for the birds to move between beach and pond. Volunteers soon noticed that the plover chicks were feeding almost exclusively at the new ponds, which are in a fenced-off area. “It’s like their own little private refuge within the refuge, where they’re able to feed undisturbed,” says Alyssa Allen, who coordinates Conservancy volunteers.

Eight chicks fledged in 2005 and nine in 2006, making the Cape May plovers among the most productive nesting pairs in the state. Inspired by this success, the DEP is now experimenting with making smaller versions of the plover ponds on New Jersey municipal beaches.

—Jennifer Uscher

Next Sighting»