‘Unusual’ number of snowy plovers found dead in riding areas of Oceano Dunes last month

BY KAYTLYN LESLIE

SEPTEMBER 08, 2019 05:00 AM, UPDATED SEPTEMBER 08, 2019 12:00 PM

State Parks is urging riders to be cautious in the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area after an “unusual number” of protected snowy plovers were found dead in the riding area of the park last month.

Four snowy plovers were found dead in the SVRA park in the final weeks of August, according to Senior Environmental Scientist Ronnie Glick.

“It is unusual to have that many birds found in the course of a short time period,” Glick told The Tribune in a phone interview Friday.

The four were found between Aug. 19 and Aug. 28. According to Glick, one of the bodies found was too old to be able to determine the cause, while the other three were fresher specimens.

Two of the birds were found in tire tracks in the sand, with evidence of being flattened, while another was found in an area with recent tire tracks, but not in said tracks, according to reports filed with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“If a bird were to be hit, it would be a violation of the Endangered Species Act, and that is a big deal,” Glick said. “Unfortunately, we don’t have a big enough staff to watch all these birds every hour of the day.”

If someone were visibly observed by a State Parks worker to hit a snowy plover — something that Glick said he did not believe had ever happened at the park — law enforcement would be called in to determine if if that person were driving negligently or in violation of any of the park’s rules.

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Gravel-camouflaged nests give threatened shorebirds a boost

Date: August 12, 2015

Source: Central Ornithology Publication Office

Summary: When it comes to reproduction, not every individual equally pulls his or her weight. Researchers spent 13 years tracking the reproductive success of individual Snowy Plovers, and more than anything else they considered, the one factor that stood out was whether plovers nested on sandy beaches or gravel bars: gravel provided better camouflage, leading to more successful fledglings, in turn leading to higher lifetime reproductive success for birds that nested at gravel sites.

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Feds ditch bird poisoning plan; public input sought on plover protection

After public outcry, a proposal to protect threatened snowy plovers on Clam Beach by poisoning egg-gobbling predators was withdrawn Tuesday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

”That didn't seem to fly -- no pun intended -- with the public,” Fish and Wildlife Field Supervisor Nancy Finley said of the plan to use an avicide called DRC-1339 to kill corvids -- crows and ravens -- that preyed on plover eggs.

Humboldt County's Clam Beach has one of the most aggressive predation rates by corvids, according to a Fish and Wildlife press release. In the last 11 years, more than 70 percent of snowy plover eggs on the north coast have been lost due to corvid predation.

A series of methods put forward at the last meeting included discouraging preying behavior, trapping corvids, and more comprehensive approaches like reducing trash that attracts corvids to the beach: “things to reduce the corvid population on a more holistic scale,” Finley said.

She said the goal of Fish and Wildlife is managing snowy plover protection with realistic methods. Labor intensive options could be made possible with community volunteers.

”That's something I'd like to gauge as well,” Finley said.

Third District Supervisor Mark Lovelace expressed appreciation at the community meetings that led Fish and Wildlife to drop its proposal.

”I'm really glad the Fish and Wildlife Service has gone out to get some outreach in the community,” he said. “There's widespread agreement that something needs to be done... but perhaps they need to be involving the community in exploring a wider range of options.”

Read on:

  http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_22040222/feds-ditch-bird-poisoning-plan-public-input-sought