Snowy Plover Project

SCCF is  working to preserve an important nesting population of Southeastern Snowy Plovers (Charadrius alexandrinus tenuirostris) on the island of Sanibel.  Numerous volunteers from the community are assisting with the project.  

During the 2010 nesting season we had seven fledglings survive from a total of 15 nests.  Of the 15 nests laid,  9 hatched, 4 were abandoned, 3 were predated, and 1 was recorded as washed out but still hatched. This gave us a hatch rate of 60% for the 2010 season. The 9 nests that hatched yielded 23 chicks, of the 23 chicks, 7 fledged giving us a fledge rate of 30.4% for the 2010 season.   Compared to earlier years the actual numbers of fledged chicks is just below average, however the percentage of birds fledged is on par with percentages in previous years.  

It is extremely important that people do not disturb nesting birds nor let dogs run on the beach.  As an example of how vulnerable the snowy chicks are, there have been 15 hatched nests this season, but there are only seven fledglings.  Nest 11 hatched three chicks on the evening of June 15; by Friday morning, only one chick remained.  The last week in May, Nest #10 was abandoned with two eggs.  The three chicks from Nest #1 were lost the weekend of April 24-25, possibly from the severe thunderstorm on Monday morning.  Another nest was washed over and lost one egg that same weekend.  On April 30, we found that Next #2 was lost, possibly due to predation.

The Snowy Plover is a state listed species and generally thought to be on the decline due to habitat loss and disturbance. The most recent estimates indicate that around 200 pairs remain along the west coast of Florida from the Panhandle through Cape Sable. 

Research

Our partnership has brought together resources from various groups to accomplish our general objective to ensure the continued existence of Snowy Plovers on Sanibel Island. SCCF has provided staff time and expertise, and coordination of volunteer efforts, as well as office space, a computer and materials for a biology technician,.  Volunteers from the community have given hundreds of hours of their time to the effort.  The J. N. “Ding” Darling NWR has provided housing and support through a grant from the Challenge Cost-share Program for a biology technician.   Sanibel Captiva Audubon Society has donated funds for the printing of informative brochures to educate beachgoers on the plight of these birds.

• Protect snowy plover nests from destruction caused by beach traffic
• Educate the public on the plight of nesting shorebirds and how they can help
• Monitor the nesting and fledging process to determine rates of success
• Research into the contributing factors for nesting success
  
• Develop better management strategies through our gained understanding to be shared with other areas interested in protecting nesting snowy plovers
• Continue to work closely with our partners to create a sense of shared community responsibility and stewardship with respect to the snowy plovers.

Snowy Plovers' and endangered Least Terns’ nests on Sanibel have been protected with stakes and ropes for the past several years by habitat management staff. It is our goal to continue conducting intensive searches and monitoring of Sanibel’s nesting shorebirds to collect data that will give us a better understanding of the status of the breeding populations in order  to promote better management of nesting areas in the future.

Financial support  for the Snowy Plover program is provided by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service through the J.N. "Ding" Darling NWR and from the Sanibel-Captiva Audubon Society.