New Jersey: Island Beach State Park Plover Update

By Justin Stakes

Trenton, NJ -(AmmoLand.com)- The pair of piping plovers nesting on the beach at Island Beach State Park (IBSP) successfully incubated their nest with four chicks hatching on July 2 and 3.

The nest, in the park’s Southern Natural Area, is the the first ocean side nest in more than 25 years and the first in the park in more than a decade. It is hoped this is an indication of a rebounding population after sharp declines between 2003 and 2014 of the federally threatened and state endangered piping plovers in New Jersey.

As is frequently the case with plovers, one chick was quickly lost to an unknown cause (most likely predation). As of Thursday, July 14, another chick had not been observed for three days, but since chicks can be notoriously elusive biologists are hopeful it is still alive. The remaining two were doing well, making some big movements this week. They had been staying in the general area of the nest but around the same time that the third chick disappeared, the brood headed south and moved approximately 1,000 meters, then over …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand