Contact:  Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902. 

Stretch of beach at Cape Henlopen closed to safeguard nesting plovers

DOVER (May 20, 2011) – The first piping plover nest of the season has been discovered at Gordon’s Pond Beach in Cape Henlopen State Park, with the parents-to-be defending their area, and DNREC assisting their parental efforts by closing off a stretch of beach in hopes the plover nest and others that might follow this year can prosper.

To minimize disturbances to the tiny endangered shorebirds, a half-mile stretch of beach between the Observation Towers and the Herring Point crossover was closed to the public today, DNREC Wildlife Biologist Matthew Bailey said – with signs, twine and PVC posts marking the area as off-limits to human traffic.

"Closing off plover nesting areas is an established protocol every year at Cape Henlopen, and this closing is in the typical area that beachgoers are accustomed to,” said Bailey, who serves as coordinator of the Division of Fish & Wildlife’s Piping Plover Protection Program. “This area will remain closed until the last of our plover chicks are fledged, usually in late August.”

For more information on piping plovers and volunteer plover monitor training, please contact Matt Bailey at 302-382-4151 or email matthew.bailey@state.de.us.

Vol. 41, No. 199