In Conservation Success Story, Massachusetts Piping Plovers Have Their Second Record Nesting Year in a Row

For the second year in a row, Massachusetts beaches have recorded more nesting Piping Plovers than anytime in the last four decades — 1,196 nesting pairs, a 1.5 percent increase over 2023 and a 500 percent jump since the program began, according to preliminary data gathered by MassWildlife’s Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program and Mass Audubon.

Mass Audubon has been leading the Coastal Waterbird Program (CWP) since 1986. The program is a collaboration between state, federal and local agencies. It engages in conservation research while monitoring and protecting vulnerable beach-nesting birds. In the mid-1980s, fewer than 200 pairs of breeding Piping Plovers existed in the state.

“Piping Plovers were on the brink of extinction in Massachusetts and now, through collaborative partnerships and strategic conservation strategies, this is a species recovering at an encouraging rate,” said Lyra Brennan, Mass Audubon’s Coastal Waterbird Program director, in a press release from Mass Audubon.

The sand-colored shorebird is about the size of a sparrow and feeds along sand and gravel beaches on the North American coast.

While Piping Plovers are still listed as threatened on the state and federal endangered species lists, the last several years of data show that the elegant shorebirds are making a comeback in Massachusetts.

CWP protected 379 pairs of Piping Plovers in 2024, representing 17 percent of the Atlantic Coast population and almost a third of the state population.

In 2024, pairs of Plovers nesting at sites protected by CWP produced 1.24 fledglings per pair — nearly the same as the 1.25 chicks in 2023 — which is considered to be a sustainable reproductive rate.

“Long-term investments in coastal communities and implementing a combination of wildlife management, science-based conservation, policy development, and education is paying off,” Brennan said in the press release.

In a first, Plovers also successfully fledged chicks at Eastham’s Dyer Prince Beach, while Sagamore’s Scusset Beach saw its first Plover pairing in over a decade. Additional hotspots included an 83 percent leap in productivity in fledged chicks on Lobsterville Beach in Aquinnah, a 56 percent jump in Plover pairs at Barnstable’s Long Beach and twice as many pairs on Chatham’s Tern Island.

Other vulnerable seabirds have also had success, including Least Terns, who experienced a 37 percent population increase in 2024 to 4,901 pairs, following a drop in numbers the previous year. Mass Audubon’s 42 protected nesting sites for the birds maintained steady reproductive success with rates ranging from zero to 1.35 fledglings per pair, making them the most successful sites for Least Terns in Massachusetts.

As was true a year earlier, predators were the most significant factor determining nesting success for terns in 2024. Major overwash and predation events impacted several of the main sites, including South Beach, which saw no Least Tern fledges last year, despite having a colony of more than 100 pairs.

American Oystercatchers also experienced their second record year in a row with 250 nesting pairs detected — a year-over-year increase of five percent.

Brennan said Oystercatchers in Massachusetts were the most productive of any state reporting the same metrics.

“Mass Audubon monitors 30 percent of the state population and despite the fledgling rate dropping from 1.23 chicks per pair to .99 in 2024, this is still well above the .35 fledged chicks per pair rate estimated to maintain a stable oystercatcher population,” Mass Audubon said.

This article by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes was first published by EcoWatch on 2 January 2025. Lead Image: An adult Piping Plover with chicks on Plymouth Beach, Massachusetts. KenCanning / E+ / Getty Images.

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