Snowy Plover Subject Of Meetings

By Kevin Howe, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.

Jan. 20–Protection of the Western snowy plover, a sparrow-size shore bird that nests on beaches from Washington state to Baja California, will be discussed at a three-day conference at the San Francisco Zoo next week.

Audubon California’s fourth annual snowy plover meeting opens at 8 a.m. Wednesday with a review of restoration efforts since the publication of a draft recovery plan in 2003 and a discussion of snowy plover management within the San Francisco Bay Saltmarsh Restoration.

Thursday’s meeting covers a review of best practices for predator management, population estimates, banding, habitat restoration and outreach programs. On Friday, participants will make a field trip to plover habitat at the San Francisco Salt Ponds and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Participants will include biologists, land managers, wildlife agency staff members, volunteers and educators, said Audubon spokeswoman Claudia Eyzaguirre.

The majority of the snowy plover population is in California, with large numbers nesting on the Channel Islands and little-visited beaches along the Central Coast. Until its listing as a threatened species in 1993, snowy plover populations steadily declined, primarily because of lost habitat.

California sees an exceptionally high use of beaches in summer, which is accompanied by widespread use of beach-grooming trucks to level the sand where the birds nest, Eyzaguirre said.

Snowy plovers are long gone as breeders from many historic nesting sites, including most of Southern California, she said. The overall increase in their numbers since the 1993 listing can be attributed to management actions being implemented on the West Coast.

Nesting sites on Monterey Bay beaches are routinely fenced off during the breeding season, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided not to de-list the plover from endangered status last fall.

For information, see www.fws.gov/sacramento/es/animal_spp_acct/western_snowy_plover.htm.

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If you go –What:Three-day conference about the Western snowy plover –When:Jan. 24-26 –Where:San Francisco Zoo

Kevin Howe can be reached at 646-4416 or khowe@montereyherald.com.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.

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