Tag Archives: Charadadriidae

Happy almost-Spring

Leave a reply

Dear PiPl Friends,

At last, spring-like temperatures! It won’t be long before the crocus are peeking through (and for some friends, you may already have seen signs of life in your gardens). I think we could all use a breath of fresh air.

Lots to share – we are extremely occupied getting the files ready for our American Public Television debut, which takes place on April 1st, to coincide with PBS Earth Day month-long programming. I am overjoyed to write that The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay will be airing on over 289 stations, representing 85.5 percent of the US TVviewing audience, including 9 of the top 10 stations, and 21 of the top 25 markets (the major urban areas). And we were accepted to the Santa Monica Film Festival! Which is also a lovely segue to sharing about my recent trip to Los Angeles to visit our daughter. I arrived at her home with the flu, left with a virus, as did she have an entirely different virus, nonetheless, it did not stop us from adventuring all along the Central Coast. My daughter had planned a wonderful itinerary for our visit (she travels around the world through her work and could be a travel guide if she wanted!) and she took me to all her favorite wildlife hotspots, which are also some of the most staggeringly beautiful places along the Pacific Coast.

From Malibu to Ragged Point, we filmed and photographed many species of wildlife that are considered conservation success stories, along with species continuing to struggle against habitat loss and a warming climate. Some highlights of which I will be sharing their stories include Snowy Plovers, Sea Lions, Elephant Seals, and Sea Otter Moms and pups (THE most adorable). We saw many splendid bird species, some that we see on the East Coast, and many only found on the West. It was so interesting to compare Snowy Plovers to Piping Plovers, her garden’s Allen’s Hummingbirds to our Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Black Oystercatchers to American Oystercatchers, and Black Phoebes to Eastern Phoebes, to mention just a few. We visited bays and estuaries and along the way found heron rookeries, a Surf Scoter up close and actually in the surf (not far off as they are typically seen here in the East) and even met Malibu Lagoon’s resident Osprey.

Sadly, the Monarch Reserve at Pismo Beach was abysmal. The winter of 2024-2025 has been the second lowest count on record of the Pacific Monarchs however, I was very disappointed to see that there were absolutely no nectar plants blooming at the Reserve for the few Monarchs that were there. The butterflies were flying around, clearly looking for nectar. We did see about a dozen Monarchs further north at the Ragged Point Inn and Resort, but then again, the proprietors had taken the time and forethought to plant many nectar-rich flowering plants that were inviting to both the Monarchs and to the hummingbirds.

A reminder that our film screening and Q and A fundraiser is the afternoon of March 23rd at 4pm at Sarah Slifer Swift’s lovely MAGMA dance studio. As soon as I finish organizing the files to send to APT, I’ll send an evite postcard with information on how to purchase tickets. Thank you to all who are planning to come. I think it is going to be a wonderfully fun afternoon and I am looking forward to seeing everyone and talking about all things Plover!

Happy Spring ❤
xxKim

WORLD PREMIERE The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay

Leave a reply

Dear PiPl Friends!

I have the best news to share with you. Our documentary, The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay, has been accepted to the world-renowned Boston Film Festival. Even more exciting, we are having the live screening premiere locally at the Shalin Liu! The event is presented by the Boston Film Festival and Rockport Music. Tickets are free, a wonderfully generous gift to our community from the BFF and Rockport Music. Please save the date, Monday, September 23rd, at 5:15pm, and make your reservations today! Here is the link to reserve seats: https://tickets.rockportmusic.org/9769/9770

The Boston Film Festival is celebrating 40 yearswith a record six premieres, including three feature films and three documentaries. Please find the stellar line-up of films and screening schedule here: https://bostonfilmfestival.org/schedule-and-tickets/

Each and every friend receiving this email note has contributed in some way or another to helping launch our documentary, whether a friend to the Plovers on the beach, a beloved Ambassador, an advocate, a well-wisher, or contributed financially with a generous donation. We are continuing fundraising in our efforts to launch the film on public television, part two of the fundraiser, so to speak however, launching our documentary at film festivals is a huge milestone and we are so appreciative of everyone’s generosity. My most heartfelt thanks and deepest appreciation for your caring kindness for the Plovers. 

I hope to see you at the premiere!

Warmest wishes,

xxKim

To become an underwriter on public television for The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay, please contact the director at 978-290-3804 or visit our online fundraiser here.

Killdeer Chicks – Four more Plover Beach Babies Getting Ready to Spread Their Wings

Leave a reply

Adorably long-legged Killdeer Plover fledgling, one of four Killdeer chicks that hatched at a Cape Ann beach this summer

One of the shorebirds often confused with Piping Plovers are Killdeers, which are another type of Plover that nests on beaches. Killdeers not only nest on beaches, they breed at a wide variety of habitats including grasslands and dunes. They have even been known to nest on rooftops, golf courses, and parking lots! If you see a Piping Plover and Killdeer near to each other, it’s easy to see the difference. Killdeers are noticeably larger and their mantle (upper back) feathers are chocolatey shades of brown, not  the soft tan of the Piping Plovers.

One way to tell whether Killdeer or Piping Plover when they are not side-by-side is to look at the collar bands. Piping Plovers have one; Killdeers have two– a wide band that encircles the neck and a shorter band across the upper front part of its chest. If you are close enough to see the eyes, the Killdeer’s pupil is black surrounded by a red iris , while both the iris and pupil of the PiPl is black. The Killdeers legs are pinkish gray, the Piping Plovers legs are orange. There are many other differences but this will get you started when comparing the two.

Killdeer adult and three chicks – note the double black bands, pinkish legs, red iris, and solid black bill.

Piping Plover adult (Super Mom) with singe collar band, light gray-tan mantle, black-tipped orange beak, and jet black eyesKilldeer chickPiping Plover chick

Listen to the Killdeer parents calling to the fledglings. Killdeers are thought to be named for their distinctive vocalizations. Kill-dee, kill-dee eventually became Killdeer. I think I prefer Killdee 🙂

Congratulations to Piping Plover Conservation in Nova Scotia!

Leave a reply

We have exciting plover news to share today! 🐣

After nearly 20 years (2004), a Plover pair has hatched a nest at Crescent Beach in Lockeport, NS this summer! We are celebrating the fantastic community of supporters who helped the plovers get there, including our amazing volunteer, Jane.

We hope the chicks survive and fledge but we need your help. Please stick to the wet sand, keep your pets on leash and give these chicks plenty of space to thrive. And keep in mind that these chicks will venture around the beach so make sure to #sharetheshore #pipingplover #conservation #shorebirds #beach #protection #novascotia

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO ALL THE SUPER DADS!

Leave a reply

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO ALL THE WONDERFUL SUPER DAD’S, both human and avian!

My husband Tom is the best Dad you could ever imagine. From Tom, I inherited the best father-in-law, his Dad. My heart is filled with much joy when I see my son Alex with his daughter and know he has inherited their same thoughtful and kind, gentle loving nature. I don’t want to go on about this because I realize not everyone is so blessed and that there are many absentee fathers out there, mine included. Enjoy all the Dads in your life and know you are so blessed if you are fortunate to know a good one.

The first photo is of a Piping Plover Dad thermosnuggling his three chicks and was taken recently at a beach on the south shore. I think the chicks are about three weeks old in the photo and it reminded me of our Good Harbor Super Dad. We call him Super Dad for a variety of reasons, but one of the most poignant is how he stayed with the handicapped chick for a month beyond the date when HipHop’s siblings had already learned to fly. It took Hip Hop twice as long to manage sustained flight but Super Dad was with him every step of the way. I think this is very unusual in the animal kingdom and is counter intuitive to the survival of the adult.

The second photo is of another species of shorebird that breeds along the New England coast, the Least Tern. Least Tern Dads share equally in brooding eggs.

Unlike Piping Plover chicks, which are precocial birds and can feed themselves within hours after hatching, Least Terns are semi-precocial and need to be fed by the adults. Least Tern Dads share equally in feeding the chicks.

Gloucester Ambassadors First Full Week Working with Mass Audubon – June 11th Plover Lover Weekend Update

Leave a reply

Dear PiPl Friends,

As many of our PiPl followers are aware, this year the City of Gloucester hired Mass Audubon to help manage Cape Ann’s Plover population. We’ve had our first full week of collaborating with Mass Audubon and I have to say it just could not be better for all involved, but most importantly, for the Piping Plovers! The Mass Audubon staff is tremendously professional, kind, friendly, dedicated to wildlife conservation, and very personable. Lyra, who heads the coastal waterbird program for Mass Audubon, and Devon, Gloucester’s assistant conservation agent both have a great deal of experience managing Piping Plovers and are quick to respond to questions and challenges as they arise.

A few changes have been made to the beach. The roped off Plover areas to protect the Plovers has increased, however, there is still loads of space for beachgoers. An added bonus to creating safe spaces for Plovers is that over time, we have seen how the established protected areas for the Plovers has vastly improved the overall health of the beach. Why is that? Because when people and pets aren’t recreating up against the dunes, new vegetation is allowed to take hold including native American Beach Grass (Ammophila breviligulata), American Sea-rocket (Cakile edentula), Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), Beach Pea (Lathyrus japonicus) and Seaside Goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens). Protecting the dunes is one of the best coastal strategies for combating a warming climate. It’s truly a beautiful thing to see how much healthier are our dunes!

Another change that has taken place are the guidelines in how close we should stand when observing the Plovers. One of the most important ways to help the Plovers is to give them lots and lots of space. If we hover/stand/place camera gear for long periods of time pointing to the Plovers, wildlife biologists working with Mass Audubon have documented that this activity attracts Crows and Gulls! You may ask, “why is that a bad thing?” Crows voraciously eat Plover eggs and hungry seagulls eat Plovers at all stages of development, including eggs, hatchlings, and even 3 week old chicks.

The best way for we beachgoers to help the Plovers is to watch from a distance and not hover near the birds. With a half-way decent lens and a camera sensor with a good crop factor we can get beautiful shots from a safe distance. The City, Mass Audubon, and we Ambassadors are all asking this of the community and we are deeply appreciative of your help.

Piping Plover smackdown – The video is of our handicapped Super Mom. Her disability does not impede her determination nor ability in defending her territory. She is perhaps Good Harbor Beach’s most fierce Plover, despite her missing foot.

Piping Plovers ferociously defend their nesting territory from intruders of every shape and size; puffing up their feathers to appear larger, chasing, and even biting the offender. Here she is in early spring defending her little slice of Good Harbor Beach from Scruffy Boy’s shenanigans!

PIPING PLOVER JUNE 4th UPDATE

Leave a reply

Dear PiPl Friends,

Many have written looking for a PiPl update and I just want to assure everyone that the PiPls have so far managed to survive the high tides and very unseasonably cold temperatures. The tides are predicted to be very high this week so we’ll just keep our hopes up we won’t have a wash out.

A first ever for me this morning; I checked on the Plovers wearing a wooly winter weight sweater, heavy coat, and thick socks. The temperature was 45 degrees on the beach!

Super Mom foot pattering

Super Mom is doing especially beautifully. Plovers do a sort of “foot pattering” when foraging. The behavior is also called “foot-trembling” or “foot-tapping.” They shake their foot in the sand, then cock their heads as though listening. The vibrations caused by the foot pattering helps to bring worms and mollusks closer to the surface. The prey is usually a few inches away from where they are pattering, but sometimes as much as a foot away, nonetheless, the PiPl runs to the potential prey, plunges their beak into the sand, and almost always surfaces with some kind of invertebrate.

This seems like such an important behavior for the Plovers to enable them to successfully forage. I wondered if Mom would still shake her leg with her missing foot. Last week I observed Mom foot pattering! She doesn’t alternate feet, as is typical, but uses only her footless right leg to patter and stir up the sand. Her ability to adapt her behaviors to survive her handicap is extraordinary!

Super Dad napping (on a warmer day this past week)

THE BEST PLOVER NEWS! #ploverjoyed

Leave a reply

Hello PiPl Friends!

Joyful update to share – Super Dad and Handicapped Mom have done it again!! We have a nest! Our Super Couple has been nesting at GHB since 2016, making this their 8th nest in 8 years. We are so blessed to have this valiant, beautiful little pair of PiPls that call GHB their home ❤

Nesting is going more slowly at other areas of the beach. We are consistently seeing 3 males duking it out, from one end of the beach to the opposite end. The females that have stopped at GHB have not stayed long. I think we should keep a strong eye out at Cape Hedge because it is only one beach further north and because one of the females that was briefly at GHB had very pale markings, similar to the female that nested at Cape Hedge.

I am very behind in updates and apologize for that! My butterfly and native plants ABC garden for the elementary kids at Phillips Academy campus in Andover needed much attention after a period of neglect due to Covid. This past week, we had a team of FORTY EIGHT volunteers from Liberty Mutual come and help clean up the campus and dig new beds. They were beyond unbelievable. This is a program offered by Liberty Mutual to help nonprofits. Even the CEO was there pitching in, working just as hard as everyone else, digging and carting away wheelbarrows of soil. It was a whirlwind cleanup, amazing, and I am still reeling from the amount of work they accomplished.

This fantastic illustration was shared by our dedicated and long-time PiPl Ambassador Jill Ortiz.

“This submission is a photograph of a poster sized piece of artwork created by students from Hanscom Primary School on Hanscom Air Force Base.
Students learned about the piping plover and the impact of plastics on shore and marine life. Students drew the bird, nest and eggs. They used plastics that were to be trashed and repurposed them to create this collage. Every student then made a shell to add to the creation.”

Happy Mother’s Day to all our PiPl Friends that are Moms!
xoxo Kim

P.S. Did you know that we have Water Snakes at nearly every body of water on Cape Ann and in Massachusetts? I did not, but became interested in learning more after seeing several while working on my pond film. May is an amazing time of year for wildlife in New England! Scroll through to see just some of the wildlife happenings taking place right here in our midst – – https://kimsmithdesigns.com/

HAPPY UPDATE FROM PLOVERVILLE #ploverjoyed!

Leave a reply

Dear PiPl Friends,

FIVE PiPls are currently on the scene! The additional two appeared Wednesday morning, as shared by ACOfficers Teagan and Jamie. I located all five yesterday afternoon. It was cold and very windy and all (except our freewheeling scruffy male), were huddled behind clumps of seaweed, on the opposite side of the incoming wind. The two newest arrivals are definitely one male, but I couldn’t tell conclusively if the other was a very light male or a dark female (I hope so much he/she is a female!).

Super Mom flanked by Super Dad (left) and newly arrived PiPl, either female or male?

At first I only spotted four but then I heard a sharp peep. I thought that’s weird, the four are quietly resting, and it sounded like the peep was from behind. Where did it come from? Must be the wind playing tricks with my hearing. A few minutes later I got up to leave, and the fifth one was resting in the sand about four feet away!

We’re heading into peak spring migration so stay tuned!

Male arrived overnight 

I have been chatting with the Mass Audubon field agents in the morning and am just so inspired by these young earnest biologists, so eager to help and make an impactful difference. They are much like the field agents that I meet at DCR beaches, really kind people. I am looking forward to our Ambassadors and beachgoers meeting the Mass Audubon group!

Recently I attended a virtual meeting for the NYCity volunteer Plover ambassadors. It’s fascinating to learn how other urban beaches manage their PiPl populations, both the positive and the negative aspects. They encounter nearly the exact same responses and issues as do we. Ninety percent of their encounters are positive and people love the birds. They have the same negatives as well – namely dogs and people running through the nesting areas and dunes.

We had a wonderful turnout for the GHB Earth Day clean-up event. With thanks and gratitude to Reverend Sue from the Annisquam Village Church and Rory McCarthy from Clean the Creek for organizing the event. Thank you so very much to everyone who lent a hand!!

Enjoy the sun while it’s shining!

Warmest wishes,

xxKim

Our perpetually scruffy looking, as of yet, unattached, male

Female of male? Leaning toward female as Super Dad allowed her to rest quietly in close proximity to Super Mom, without chasing her/him away

One more of the new boy

Watch how handicapped Super Mom has adapted in how she gets around

Leave a reply

Lots of folks are asking, “how does Piping Plover Super Mom manage with her missing foot?” She has adapted beautifully however, you can see from these short clips, that it takes much more effort to get around.

If you see Plovers on the beach know that one may be Super Mom. Plovers need minimal disruption as they are becoming established at their nesting sites and Super Mom even more so.

Thank you for giving the Plovers all the space that they need!

In the summer of 2021, one of the Good Harbor Beach Piping Plover’s foot became entangled in dried seaweed and monofilament. Over the winter she lost all the toes on her right foot. She returned to GHB in 2022. Piping Plover Super Mom has adapted in how she walks, runs, forages, preens, and even in how she mates. Over the summer of 2022 she and her long time partner, Super Dad, successfully raised four chicks to fledge. She has again returned to her nesting site in the spring of 2023. She is healthy, foraging well, and nest scraping with her mate!