Gateway National Recreation Area
Piping Plovers in Jamaica Bay
Hanem Abouelezz, Biologist Jamaica Bay Unit Gateway National Recreation Area National Park Service
Gateway National Recreation Area
Threatened and Endangered Species
“Our mission is to reduce the risk of extinction of plants and animals in the parks, and to restore species that have occurred in parks historically but have been lost to human activities.”
FrankDesisto.com J. Portmann NPS
Gateway National Recreation Area
Species Status Atlantic Coast population of the piping plover (Charadrius melodus)
listed federally threatened January 1986
Threats to the population include: habitat loss and degradation, predation, human disturbance, wind turbine development and climate change (USFWS 2009)
Minimum subpopulation for New York-New Jersey recovery unit = 575 pairs for 5 years [586 pairs in 2008] (USFWS 2009)
GNRA, in consultation with USFWS, implemented a piping plover management plan in 1989
Gateway National Recreation Area
Management Area
Nesting habitat: above high tide line on coastal beaches, sand flats, foredunes, washovers areas between dunes. Areas characterized by no or sparse vegetation
Foraging habitat: intertidal zones, washover areas, sand flats and
shorelines
Gateway manages Rockaway beaches for breeding piping plovers. Beaches include: Jacob Riis, Ft. Tilden, Silver Gull Club, West Beach, Breezy Point Tip
Gateway National Recreation Area
Methods
Plovers arrive in early March
Traditional breeding areas are enclosed by symbolic fencing by mid March
Biological monitoring begins in mid-April and concludes in late July
Seasonal employees and volunteer interns
Nests located via monitoring of plover
behavior and are enclosed with predator enclosures
Gateway National Recreation Area
Monitoring Results Nests discovered between April 17th and June 29th. Nesting occurred on Breezy Point tip, West Beach and the Silver Gull Club beach.
Pairs = 18
Eggs = 92
Chicks hatched = 30
Hatch Rate = 33%
Fledges = 17
(up 6.25% from 2011)
Fledge Rate = 57%
Productivity (Fledges/Pairs) = 94%
Gateway National Recreation Area
Monitoring Results
Yeah, yeah, yeah…
How do those numbers match up?
Gateway National Recreation Area
Trends The good: - # pairs above average - # eggs produced well above average - good fledge rate The bad: - hatch rate could use improvement The bottom line: - Egg loss prior to hatching is the weak spot in the program - Improvement in this area could increase productivity
Gateway National Recreation Area
Disturbance & Violations
Predators feral cats, raccoons, dogs
Interspecific Competition American oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus)
- Terns CoOp = increased oystercatcher co-occurrence with nesting plovers
Humans jogging, fires, pets, motor vehicles, kite flying, swimming
Egg Theft Two nests vandalized, discovered July 4th
- Single hole ripped into the top of the exclosure - Egg collector? No resolution at the point
Other reasons for nest/egg loss tides and storms
Gateway National Recreation Area
Brave New World…
Hurricane Sandy removed vegetation and increased the availability of suitable nesting habitat for the piping plover as well as other special status species (Common Terns, Least Terns and Black Skimmers)
“Will the number of nesting pairs and/or reproductive success increase proportionally to this increase in habitat or will other disturbances hold back productivity?”
- Using pre and post storm satellite imagery to quantify the amount of nesting habitat in ArcGIS
Will terns return to NPS property, thus buffering nesting piping
plovers from American oystercatcher harassment? 2013 should be a interesting season!