Dear PiPl Friends,
The following is a long overdue update about our 2026 Piping Plover season on Cape Ann. I’ve been reluctant to write as it was a very challenging year for our little friends. One of the first Plovers to return to Good Harbor Beach, our Super Dad, arrived in late March. It was so good to see him looking fit and fat after a winter of foraging at warm weather beaches! Super Dad hovered for weeks around his usual nesting area. Day after day, he waited with great patience for our handicapped Super Mom to return. After a month it became apparent that she would probably not be returning to Good Harbor Beach. He looked so forlorn and it was all a bit heartbreaking.
Newly arrived Super Dad
Plovers live on average 3 to 5 years and we knew this day would come sooner or later. He and Super Mom had been nesting at GHB since 2016. That’s ten years of battling Crows, and gulls, beach balls and bozos, storm over-wash and over-sanding, and the pervasive off-leash dogs charging through nesting areas. Last year was especially rough on Mom. Her first nest of four eggs was washed away in a super storm. The next nest was predated by Crows, as was the third nest. She laid a total of eleven eggs that summer and that, coupled with the struggles of getting around with one leg, just did her in.
Despite all that, over the course of 10 years these two excellent parents fledged numerous chicks and they are a credit to our ever-growing community of beach going Plover friends, Plover Ambassadors, DPW Crew, and the Audubon team.
In the meantime, on April 13th, a Bluenoser Plover made a one night stopover at GHB on his way to Nova Scotia. What a delight to learn about this little traveler outfitted with a mini radio transmitter. You can read the full story here: Nova Scotian Guest Plover at Good Harbor Beach [ https://wp.me/pO7TR-dWI ]
A brand new pair began courting in our original pair’s familiar territory. They were new to our beach and I think also, new to mating. I was able to film their courtship several times and each time after copulation was complete, the male grabbed the female by the tip of her wing and swung her around and around in a circle half a dozen times. It looked like square dancing although the female did not look like she wanted to dance.
Three more pairs joined the scene and at one point we had four nests at GHB. But then the late May storm blew in and wiped out all the nests save for one. These nests were not over-washed from the storm as happened last year, but over-sanded. A new term to me and one that means so much sand blew in, it buried the nests. Three pairs re-nested but their nests and chicks were lost again to Crows and gulls. One chick survived for several weeks. The one pair whose nest survived the over-sanding – their eggs were eaten by Crows on the very day they were expected to hatch. All this as you can imagine was very tough on the Plovers, the Ambassadors, and on the Audubon team.
The GOOD news though is that more than a DOZEN chicks fledged at other Gloucester beaches. A new fledgling record for Gloucester <3
Feisty Plover parents tag teaming to defend their nest from hungry a Herring Gull
Plovers fare best when they can nest early in the season. The powerful May storms of the past several years have been tough on our Good Harbor Beach Plovers. Their re-nests are more subject to gull and Crow predation. I have noticed over the years there are a modest number of gulls and Crows on the beach during the spring months. As the beach going crowd swells in the summertime, the scavenging birds start tuning into the trash left behind on the beach. Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls begin to form great flocks, and they are joined by entire Crow families, all hungrily scouring the beach for scraps, shorebird eggs, and chicks. We as a community can’t do much to help in the way of severe storms, but we can be mindful of picking up all our own garbage and helping with that left behind by others. And of course never feed the gulls as that just encourages their association that humans = free meals.
Speaking of garbage left behind on the beach, there is an amazing member of our community, Chris Cefalo, who voluntarily cleans Good Harbor Beach nearly every morning. He picks up Everything, from the tiniest bits of microplastics, food waste tossed into the water, plethora of plastic paraphernalia, beverage bottles and cans, to the discarded beach chairs and tents. If you see Chris around town, please thank him for all he does to keep Good Harbor Beach clean and presentable for the earliest morning beachgoers.
A note about the 12 foot wide roped off corridor running the length of Good Harbor – You may have noticed the lush green area now following the shape of the dune for the length of the beach. This area was cordoned off by our conservation department I think about six years ago. This narrowest of corridors, for the most part, restricts people and pets from recreating in the dunes and at the base of the dunes. This one simple act has allowed native vegetation to take hold, first Sea Rocket, and now beach grass. These rooted plants are helping to hold the sand in place and prevent further erosion. If you are concerned about the beach shrinking then please look at the before and after pictures from 2018 when storms had cut away much of the dune face and in some areas, the ravaged dune was 18 -20 feet behind the current line of symbolic roping. Read more here: Please Stop Spreading and Sharing Fake News and Disinformation About Plovers! https://wp.me/pO7TR-e4D. Dunes want to be healthy!
Goals for next year include encouraging the City to rope off a 12 foot wide corridor at the Creek corner as storm protections are desperately needed there (this was not done when the front of the beach was originally cordoned off), advocating more strongly for the use of predator exclosures as we know they really, really work at Good Harbor Beach, and providing more information for our Plover friends and beachgoers.
With thanks and heartfelt gratitude to our Piping Plover Ambassadors, City of Gloucester DPW Crew, Mass Audubon Team, Chris Cefalo, all our PiPl Beachgoing Friends who regularly check in about the birds, and all PiPl Friends, near and far. <3
Warmest wishes,
xxKim