Endangered snowy plovers return to Monterey Bay beaches

By Jacquelyn Quinones

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    MONTEREY, Calif. (KSBW) — An endangered bird species, the snowy plover, has returned to the beaches of Monterey Bay for its annual nesting season, prompting efforts from environmentalists to protect them.

“That’s their whole strategy to stay really camouflaged so that predators don’t find them,” said Amanda Preece, an environmental scientist for California State Parks. “It also makes it harder for a scientist to find them but certainly almost impossible for the general population to see them or even know they’re there.”

Environmentalists estimated that 370 snowy plovers nested in the Monterey Bay last year, with 130 chicks surviving. They hope to see higher numbers this year.

“Snowy plovers are here year-round in Monterey Bay,” Preece said. “If you are on a sandy beach in the Monterey Bay area, there’s probably snowy plovers around you, but you might not even notice it and people mistake them for other species that are a little similar looking.”

Preece described the birds as small, pale brown shorebirds with black beaks and big eyes.

“But if you want to see them, you just go to a sandy beach, kind of hang out again, don’t go in closed areas and look for movement,” said Preece. “They kind of sit down in these little depressions in the sand and they’ll just be hanging out trying to stay out of the wind.”

Park rangers are patrolling certain areas where the plovers will be nesting to ensure people follow the rules, including knowing which beaches allow dogs.

“There are no dogs allowed on the beaches or the state beaches,” said Officer Colin Simon, a California State Parks lifeguard peace officer. “So if you’re going to be accessing any of the state beaches that are north of the Tide’s hotel, there are just no dogs allowed because of our plover populations.”

Another important factor is people bringing food to the beaches. Park rangers urge visitors to take their trash with them to avoid attracting crows or other predators.

“When those very intelligent birds are on the beach looking at our beach or looking at the trash, our refuge, our food, they find the plovers and the plover chicks and they find them rather tasty as well,” Simon said.

Park rangers also urge the public to stay on marked trails to avoid mistakenly stepping on a nest, which is hard to see.

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