Friday, May 1, 2015

Snowy Plover nesting and roosting update


Half Moon Bay Review, 4/30/15. "Snowy Plovers bypass local beaches by Ester Hahn."

Western Snowy Plover
Flyby Pacifica, return to the same nest
Image result for Western Snowy plovers
New generation Snowy Plovers 
"Snowy plovers are often sighted along local beaches during the winter months, resting up for the nesting months ahead. But the last time the birds appear to have nested in Half Moon Bay was in 2009, according to Supervising State Park Ranger Nelle Lyons. ....  She is aware, though, that snowy plovers have managed to nest in the past, most recently in Pescadero in 2012.

....  Various factors, from the increasingly narrow beaches to the resident predators like the peregrine falcons and the nonnative red foxes, have played significant roles in discouraging snowy plovers from nesting in the area, Lyons explained. “The wider the beaches, the more (available) habitat and the more likely (that the snowy plovers will) nest,” Lyons said. “In Monterey, because (snowy plovers) have large nesting areas, they’re able to do more predator management.”

.... For now, the local snowy plover population is actually on the rise. A winter survey, conducted on Jan. 20, reported the sighting of 152 snowy plovers over six beaches in San Mateo County, the highest number since 2004. Last year, there were only 99 birds sighted."   Read article.

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References, Snowy Plover:  Cornell Lab of Ornithology/Snowy Plover,"A small plover of beaches and barren ground, the Snowy Plover can be found across North and South America, Eurasia, and Africa. In North America it is restricted to the Gulf and Pacific coasts of the United States, and scattered inland localities from Saskatchewan to California and Texas."  Western Snowy Plover:  US Fish & Wildlife ServiceWSP Organization/About. 

Note Western Snowy Plover photographs are from Oregon Coast Aquarium, Newport," Oregon Coast exhibit, "...  a wild species that lives in on the sandy shores of Oregon. ..." 

Posted by Kathy Meeh

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another tremendous waste of taxpayer money in Pacifica just to appease the Beach Coalition and the hippies and noobees.

I Love Pacifica! said...

Awl So Cute!

Anonymous said...

We've been dumped!

Kathy Meeh said...

The article explains why an urban beach is not a good location for Snowy Plover nesting, whereas rural areas with wide beaches may be.
For a while (5-7 years ago?), Shore Bird Alliance (Pacifica Environmental Family again) was pushing for urban Linda Mar beach to transition into a Plover nesting area.
Even so, Plover roosting along San Mateo County Beaches has increased this year. In Pacifica, wonder if they like some of the new leftovers from Taco Bell? (Oh, probably not.)

Anonymous said...

If you can't eat them, they are a useless bird. Just like Ravens and Crows!

Anonymous said...

Council was persuaded to make part of the beach off limits to better protect the plovers. Paid Parking funds the protections, rangers, fences, signs and paid parking probably wouldn't have been approved by the regulators without the city commitment to plover protections. Looks like Mother Nature said don't bother. That should be the end of it, or, will we hear "we must do more"?

Anonymous said...

No tax money was or will be spent spent on Plover protection. No part of the walkable beach is "off-limits". Meeh's comments are too stupid for words - how is she not embarrassed to display her ignorance?

Anonymous said...

1208 not meeh, but, really? you mean people can walk through the designated plover habitat at all times of the year? run their dogs through there? do elaborate on that and your use of the term "walkable beach". dispel the ignorance, if you will. and about the funding...i assume you mean it was all grant money for signs, fencing, etc. will those grants be renewed? is the city not maintaining the area, providing compliance and enforcement? or is that all-volunteer?

Anonymous said...

Let's give 1208 the benefit of the doubt and credit him/her with incredible naivete.

Kathy Meeh said...

High IQ 1208, the subject was Plover 1) nesting (babies) vs. 2) roosting (hanging-out) on beach areas. Scholarly articles exist. You might want to explore this issue.
As described in the article, and the apt comment from 222-- a Plover nesting beach is NOT compatible with recreational urban beach activity.
But the (endangered) tax-payer funding issue you bring-up is of interest. In that regard, the City benefits from human beach recreation and tourism, vs. a few bird watchers.

Anonymous said...

Stop worrying so much about the plovers and start paying to all the dog shit that has marked Linda Mar Beach sa one of the most polluted in the state - driving away tourist dollars.

“These waters are contaminated and are not suitable for swimming or other water contact activities.”

Anonymous said...

Stop worrying so much about the plovers and start paying to all the dog shit that has marked Linda Mar Beach sa one of the most polluted in the state - driving away tourist dollars.

The Tourist dollars are driving through town on Highway 1. When they see the urban blight they keep on going straight through town.

Surrounding cities are cashing in on Pacifica's ineptness on creating a tourist destination.

Anonymous said...

Agree about the dog poop -- it is disgusting and not the fault of the dogs, but of their lazy pig owners -- BUT the contamination is the result of sewage (meaning humans), not dogs. Perhaps shutting down the homeless camps that use our waterways as toilets might reduce contamination . . .

Henry said...

Maybe the Chamber of Commerce can check in on what they are doing to drive tourist dollars to Pacifica. Real results not just happy time fund raisers.

Anonymous said...

316 And the homeless are such an eyesore! I hate what they do to property values. Simply not harmonious.

Anonymous said...

People, and as we all know, in Pacifica, that's people with or without indoor plumbing and fido... part of the same problem. No ag and no industry so no other players.

Anonymous said...

This tourist destination stuff is the worst kind of pipe dream. We're next door to a real tourist destination and on the way to another, the Monterey Peninsula. Both World Class. Might catch a few tasty crumbs if we had more hotel rooms and the type of restaurants travelers prefer. A dilapidated bedroom community is not a big tourist draw. Build the hotels, pursue a chain restaurant or two. Grab the crumbs.

Anonymous said...

A dilapidated bedroom community is not a big tourist draw. Build the hotels, pursue a chain restaurant or two. Grab the crumbs.

Aim high Pacifica, aim really high!!

Anonymous said...

The two posters above posting about Homeless are 100% correct.

What ever happened to Mary Ann the nurse practitioner setting up programs to help the homeless?

Not only the homeless put people living in trailers and campers and cars pooping out in the street.

Anonymous said...

629 Hotels and popular restaurants sound good to me. My kind of crumbs! Not special enough? I know. Who doesn't want to bask in the glow of a Harmony or maybe another low-density, high priced development in the quarry. Meanwhile, to pay the bills, let's hope the new owners of the old Spanky's property want to build something really disgustingly commercial. And it's time for a hotel complex and public plaza on Beach Blvd, expanded HIE and a revitalized Nick's. Kimco, we know you're up to something. Sure hope it's a new disgustingly commercial shopping center. I want to be repulsed by an outbreak of craven commercialism in Pacifica! Then I'll seek peace and tranquility on one of our trails and watch for glowing rich people. They're so pretty.

Anonymous said...

631 People pooping on the streets? Where the hell do you live? Anyway, Mary Ann became a politician. End of story.

Anonymous said...

Actually, my husband once saw something that he says looked pretty unmistakably like human poop on Linda Mar blvd. near Safeway, and someone from De Solo/Montezume just posted, on Next Door, that a drunken man tried to break into her house on Sunday and pooped on her front porch. So the answer to "where the hell do you live?" is "Pacifica."

Steve Sinai said...

Boy, someone is really obsessed with poop.