The remarkable story of one resilient female snowy plover
July 17, 2024
written by Carleton Eyster
Recent observations of one plover, named VAWO (for the unique leg band color combination Violet, Aqua, White, Orange) have revealed a compelling story of survival that dramatically illustrates the vital connection between the recently restored wetlands at Novato Baylands and the Great Beach of Point Reyes National Seashore, also undergoing active restoration.
Novato Baylands, where Point Blue Conservation Science’s STRAW team manages ongoing wetland restoration in partnership with the CA State Coastal Conservancy and others, has quickly emerged as an important snowy plover hotspot within the broader San Francisco Bay. This beach bird species is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act due to loss of habitat and other challenges in beach and wetland ecosystems. Point Blue biologists have been studying and monitoring snowy plovers in California since 1978 in partnership with several agencies and other groups over the years. In the Point Reyes National Seashore we are currently working with the National Park Service to monitor the small population of breeding plovers there and we are learning a great deal about regional movements and habitat selection.
To learn more about productivity, survival, and movements of snowy plovers in the San Francisco Bay Area, organizations including Point Blue at Point Reyes National Seashore, San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory in South San Francisco Bay, and Avocet Research Associates in San Pablo Bay put light-weight colored bands on the birds’ legs to track them individually from afar with binoculars. Through long-term studies of snowy plover dispersal and migration patterns, biologists have long been aware of the dynamic nature of snowy plover movements up and down the coast, from Baja California to southern Washington.
The female plover at the center of this story has nested for the past two years on Point Reyes beaches, where she has hatched several nests. On May 23 this year, her nest of 3 eggs hatched at North Beach and she was found attending one tiny chick in the dunes north of her nest. Upon close inspection of the nest site, biologists discovered fresh Common Raven tracks, suggesting one or more of the chicks may have been predated, an unfortunate common threat.
Snowy Plover females have adapted to coping with the loss of their eggs and chicks to predators by laying multiple clutches of eggs every year, and they also typically leave their mate, the male, to care for the offspring within days after hatch, as VAWO did after her clutch hatched on the sands of Point Reyes. Just ten days later she had found a new mate, but this time she chose to move to a distinctly different habitat, the Novato Baylands Wetlands Restoration site, where biologists with Avocet Research Associates later found her incubating a 3-egg nest in the drying salt panne habitat.
On July 4th, two precocial chicks hatched from this second nest and her new mate, YGGY, relieved VAWO of her parental obligations, assuming responsibility for the chicks, and ushering them into hiding within the sparse pickleweed marsh. He will attend to them for a period of about 28 days until they can fly.
Biologists anticipate that VAWO will likely return to the Point Reyes area to spend the winter, where she was seen last year, but given her recent discovery of Novato Baylands, we may just have to wait and see!
This remarkable story of one resourceful and persistent plover illustrates the interconnectedness of important and diverse bay area landscape features, and how active restoration efforts are helping provide multiple options for local wildlife.