Piping plovers watching over eggs, chicks at Cape Henlopen

CAPE HENLOPEN (July 6, 2011) – The sunny, warm holiday weekend brought the expected crowds to Cape Henlopen State Park. Meanwhile, other denizens of the park’s beaches, the endangered piping plovers, are continuing to incubate and hatch eggs and watch over their chicks.

Out on the Point, a total of three pairs of plovers have hatched chicks, with one chick fledging over the holiday weekend. “Plover chicks are considered to have fledged when they are seen flying 50 feet,” said Wildlife Biologist Matthew Bailey. 

Another of the three hatches began on the evening of June 26 with one chick and two eggs seen in the nest. The fate of the fourth egg is unknown, although it is possible that it hatched earlier that day and the chick was in hiding during the evening observation. 

As of July 5 one of the eggs still had not hatched and both adults were seen attending two chicks on the tidal flats on the bay side of the Point. Observations suggest that it is unlikely that a third chick survived the initial day of hatch, Bailey said.

A new piping plover nest was found at the Point last weekend. It is likely a renest and is further out on the Point than any nest found in the past five years. Given the typical timing of renests, it is possible the nest has been incubated from as early as June 17.

Four additional plover pairs are still incubating eggs at the Point, with hatches expected over the next 10 days.

Over at Gordons Pond, a nest with eggs that was due to hatch has been lost to predators.  Monitors are watching the area to determine if the pair of would-be parents will renest.

In other beachnester news, least terns are still scraping and defending two locations at the Point, but there are currently no known nests on the ground. Least terns are also still are defending an area at Gordons Pond. However, no new nests have been found, and three known least tern nests were missing, likely due to predators though no direct evidence was found.

Oystercatchers are still present on the Point, with as many as seven being seen at one time, but they are not defending any specific areas. A pair of oystercatchers is also being seen regularly at Gordon’s Pond, but monitors do not believe that they have nested this season. “It’s doubtful that any more oystercatcher nests will be laid this season,” Bailey said.

For more information on beachnesters and monitoring efforts, please contact Wildlife Biologist Matthew Bailey at 302-382-4151 or email matthew.bailey@state.de.us.

Vol. 41, No. 253