 For the last several weeks, small pale shorebirds about the length of your hand with thin orange legs have been arriving to ocean-side beaches at the entrance to New York Harbor. Specifically, urban-suburban seashore places like Sandy Hook, Fort Tilden, and Breezy Point, all managed by the National Park Service, and Rockaway Beach in Queens, managed by New York City Parks. The birds often arrive tired. They have migrated many miles by flapping their tiny wings, sometimes through bad storms and strong winds, from places where they spend winters along the Atlantic coast from Texas to North Carolina, or as far south as the Bahamas and Greater Antilles. It’s a tough journey and not all birds make it. Those that do will begin courting and setting up nesting territories on sand dunes and sandy areas with sweeping views of the water. The male will dig several slight depressions into the sand for a nest, also known as a scrape. Each potential home will be lined with pebbles or bits of shells. It doesn’t look like much, but somehow these petite shorebirds find it cozy, comfortable, and safe. Probably because their feathers are the color of sand. This makes them blend in perfectly with the coastal habitat, a reason why the beach-going public does not often see the birds. Once a male finds a mate, a female will choose where to nest within the couple’s territory. The female will lay her eggs in one of several scrapes made by the male; the average clutch is 3 to 4 eggs. A pair will work tireless to protect their young, but the odds are often against them from intense coastal storms to predation to increased human disturbance. For example during the 2015 breeding season at Sandy Hook, on average just 1.2 chicks per pair fledged, and at Breezy Point in 2012 only about 30 chicks hatched out of 92 eggs. Data on the breeding behavior of piping plovers shows that some adults return to the same nesting area annually. Why the birds come back to New York Harbor, the most congested coastline in America, is anyone’s guess, but they do every spring, making them the first of the shorebirds to arrive to local beaches to breed. Piping plovers are not just one of New York Harbor’s most endangered birds, but one of its most endangered species. In total, only about 100 pairs call our beaches home during a breeding period - spring and summer. The most current population data is not always easily available to the public, so numbers could change. To be fair, it hasn’t been easy being a piping plover for a long time. The shorebird has been driven to near extinction at least once. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, unrestricted market hunting for the millinery trade or plume hunting devastated populations of many wading and shorebirds on the Atlantic coast, including piping plovers. In those days, it was fashionable for ladies to wear fancy plumed hats made with colorful bird feathers. Author William Souder in the March 2013 edition of Smithsonian Magazine tell us, “The main drivers of the plume trade were millinery centers in New York and London….In 1886, it was estimated, 50 North American species were being slaughtered for their feathers.” In the late 1800s, not only were feathers used to adorn women's hats, but also piping plovers were used for human consumption, like Cornish hens. After the Migratory Bird Treaty Act was enacted in 1918, which banned market hunting and forbade interstate transport of birds, piping plover numbers increased slowly, but in some places not at all. Legendary ornithologist, Witmer Stone, wrote in the Bird Studies at Old Cape May, that in the early 1920s the piping plover “suffered the most from the spread of summer resorts along the shore.” During this time, many wild beaches along New York and New Jersey were under pressure from human development, beach stabilization programs, and increased recreational use. By the 1950s, piping plovers suffered a significant drop again from the loss of habitat up and down the Atlantic coast from increased human development and recreation following World War II. By the 1980s, with no recorded population increases during the 1970's the piping plover was listed as an endangered species in New Jersey in 1984, followed in 1986 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listing the piping plover as threatened, giving this small shorebird additional protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Despite years of help, population numbers are slow to rebound. This can be seen at Breezy Point. According to Hanem Abouelezz, Biologist at the Jamaica Bay Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area, National Park Service, in 2012 there were 18 nesting pairs of piping plovers from the Jacob Riis beach westward to the tip of Breezy Point. This is only up from 14 nesting pairs in 2001. In New York State overall, the plover population has gone on a roller coaster ride. The New York National Heritage Program states, “there were around 500 breeding pairs of piping plovers on Long Island in 1939, but population numbers were reduced to 190 estimated pairs annually from 1989 to 1995, a reduction of 62%.... New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's population counts show that numbers are on the rise {including sites on Long Island and along the Great Lakes} and stabilizing. There were only 114 breeding pairs in 1985, 294 in 1995, and 437 in 2009.” In New Jersey, the population is also slowly on the rise. According to Todd Pover, Beach Nesting Project Manager for the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, Northern Monmouth County, as a region, in 2015 continued to account for the largest percentage of pairs in the state, just over half of the statewide population (51% of the statewide total). Most of those pairs nested at Sandy Hook (49% of the statewide total). In 2015, there were 53 nesting pairs of piping plovers at Sandy Hook, up from 22 in 2006.  Yet, despite increases, the piping plover population still exists below long-term averages and the species remains endangered in both New York and New Jersey. Without intense protection and management, it’s likely piping plovers would not survive around New York Harbor. Their success at raising a family around the harbor depends on whether they will be able to run a gauntlet of problems and prowling predators from hungry raccoons and foxes, to bullying gulls and crows, to sneaky Norway rats and feral cats. Garbage left on beaches, including candy wrappers and soda cans, cause trouble. It attracts predators, including foxes, skunks, raccoons, crows, and gulls. Large gulls and crows can terrorize breeding pairs of piping plovers, causing them to abandon nests. Although plovers may nest again if eggs are destroyed, young raised later in the season often don't survive as well as those raised in May and June. People pose even bigger problems. Decades of poorly planned coastal development has greatly decreased prime nesting habitat for piping plovers, from wide-open wild beaches to largely managed sandy strips. Where beaches are protected, people often have to share space from March to September with nesting birds. Areas become closed off, which may frustrate some beachgoers and fishermen. For example, at Sandy Hook in 2009, park rangers were searching for someone who removed two incubating piping plover eggs from a nest and damaged fencing that protected shorebirds. In 2012, federal park police were trying to track down someone who stole eggs from two piping plover nests at Breezy Point during the early morning hours on July 4. No matter how bright or colorful signs may be, some people will still enter into fenced off areas on a beach to jog or walk a dog that are clearly marked as “do not enter.” Beach closures often include a prohibition on dogs and kites. They are in place to protect breeding success for plovers from humans or dogs that can harm the birds by stepping on eggs or chicks. Trespassers can also cause adults to leave nests, exposing the eggs to very hot sand temperatures of up to 120 degrees, and can interrupt foraging activities. Global climate change is an important growing threat. In 2010, scientists Jennifer R. Seavey, Ben Gilmer, and Kevin M. McGarigal wrote an article entitled, “Effect of sea-level rise on piping plover (Charadrius melodus) breeding habitat” in the Biological Conservation journal. The article points out that climate change is raising sea levels and threatening many low-lying coastal areas and associated wildlife including piping plovers. After assessing plover habitat on the barrier islands of Suffolk County, NY, the scientists found that if plover habitat cannot migrate inward due to human development, sea level rise is likely to reduce breeding areas. Over time, the spread of eroded beaches will increase the likelihood of conflicts between plovers and human recreation. In addition, more intense storms could also limit habitat, as a large hurricane could flood up to 95% of plover habitat. The most recent surveys from U.S. Fish and Wildlife place the entire Atlantic population of piping plovers at less than 2,000 pairs. There are more people living within a square block in Brooklyn than plovers breeding along the Atlantic Coast of the United States. Piping plovers, however, are not giving up. Every chick around New York Harbor contributes to growing the population. Better protection and policing of beach habitat seems to be working. For example at Sandy Hook, all National Parks are required by law to give up space for endangered and threatened species. For this reason, certain beaches are closed to the public during the summer when the birds nest and raise young. National Park Service employees and volunteers also erect enclosures around nest areas to try to keep out predators, but allow plovers to move freely. Although much progress has been made in both New York and New Jersey, more still needs to be done. Key nesting areas and associated habitat need better protection from predators and human disturbances and greater research needs to be done to more clearly identify threats to habitat and test the effectiveness of recovery actions. Also, increased public information campaigns are needed in both states to raise awareness of the plover's plight. There is something unique and gusty about a small little shorebird trying to make it in New York Harbor. Anyone who lives here can sympathize. Let’s hope the piping plover has enough tenacity to keep it going. I can't imagine living without them. The little birds serve as an important barometer for the health and well being of our coastal environment. Some Ways to Protect Piping Plovers:
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STOP THE WILLIAMS FRACKED GAS PIPELINE THROUGH NY HARBOR! MY TOP 5 FAVORITE BOOKS ABOUT NY HARBOR 1. Field Guide to the Neighborhood Birds of New York City by Leslie Day 2.Heartbeats in the Muck by John Waldman 3. The Fisheries of Raritan Bay by Clyde L. MacKenzie Jr. 4. Waterfront: A Walk Around Manhattan by Phillip Lopate 5. The Bottom of the Harbor by Joseph Mitchell 
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