S. Maine Beachgoers Urged to Stay Away From Piping Plovers

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is asking beachgoers to help protect piping plovers by staying away from their nests in southern Maine.

These shorebirds have arrived in Maine and are just beginning to set up nesting territories on white sand beaches after spending the winter on beaches in North Carolina and further south as well as Mexico and the Caribbean.

Protecting every piping plover nest and chick is vital to retaining this rare bird in Maine. Beachgoers are reminded to make sure their dogs do not disrupt these nests by keeping their dogs on leash and avoiding nesting areas.

Piping plovers are small, pale shorebirds whose sandy brown and white colorings act as camouflage on a beach. While this protects them from predators, their camouflage also works so well that many people do not see them or their sand-colored eggs when walking along the beach. Subsequently, nests and eggs can be easily and inadvertently destroyed.

"From a piping plover's point of view, people and dogs are predators," MDIFW Biologist Lindsay Tudor said. "If beachgoers or their dogs are too close to piping plovers and their chicks, the adults will attempt to draw away the danger, leaving chicks alone and making them easy prey for crows and gulls lurking nearby."

Currently, piping plovers have been observed on Ogunquit Beach, Wells Beach, beaches in Kennebunk, Goose Rocks Beach (Kennebunkport), Fortunes Rocks Beach (Biddeford), Old Orchard Beach, Higgins Beach (Scarborough) and Popham Beach State Park (Phippsburg). Nesting areas are identified with signage and stake and twine fencing.

People should stay away from the fencing and should only observe piping plovers from a great distance away with high-powered binoculars. Beachgoers should also be on the lookout for piping plover chicks that leave the next after hatching and are flightless for 25 to 35 days.

Last year, many early nests and chicks were lost due to astronomical tides and severe storms that caused flooding. Luckily, many birds were able to re-nest, resulting in 42 piping plover pairs that nested on 14 beaches and fledged more than 64 offspring. These numbers met state goals for a growing plover population, and biologists and plover enthusiasts are hoping the 2013 nesting season will be another successful one.

These birds have been federally listed as a threatened species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 1986 and were listed on the state's Endangered Species list in 1997.

For more information on birds in Maine, please visit www.mefishwildlife.com.