Director’s Note

I began documenting the Good Harbor Beach Piping Plovers in May of 2016. What began as a quick trip to the beach to capture a few moments of footage of the recently arrived Plovers for an entirely different project about Cape Ann wildlife became, over time, the greatly expanded project that it is today. From that very first visit, it was apparent the birds were struggling under the pressures of human and dog disturbance.

Writing and photographing while filming all the while, I  have published over several hundred posts, articles, and stories about the Good Harbor Beach PiPls, along with Plovers that I am documenting at several other north of Boston beaches. Typically I do not work this way and would not publish until the project were further along, but in order to help our community better understand what was happening on our most popular beach, I found it necessary to publicize what was taking place at Good Harbor Beach.

The film footage, photos, and journals have provided the basis for the forthcoming film and children’s book about Atlantic Coast Piping Plovers. While the film is in production, I have created a lecture program and am offering that freely to our community. Please see below for a synopsis of the program and a list of hundreds of stories about the threatened Piping Plover.

Lecture Program

Life Story of the Piping Plover

From courtship to nesting to fledging, every aspect of the Piping Plover’s life story is presented. We’ll also cover the current status of the bird’s population, learn about where Piping Plovers spend the winter, and how communities can work together to help Piping Plovers survive even the busiest of beaches. Through Kim Smith’s photo journal work on the threatened Piping Plover, we gain a better understanding of how best to help this tiniest, but most resilient, of shorebirds as it breeds and migrates along the Atlantic Coast.

For more information about presenting, please contact Kim Smith at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com

Why are there five chicks in this photo?

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Featured Story (see many more articles posted below and organized chronologically)

THE GOOD HARBOR BEACH PIPING PLOVERS – The story of a remarkably spirited pair of birds and how a community came together to help in their struggle for survival

Read more here:

Ambassador Group Works to Protect Gloucester’s Endangered Piping Plovers

UPDATE: Piping plovers are back

The Good Harbor Beach Parking Lot Plovers

In May of 2019, Kim was featured in Audubon Magazine for her work protecting and documenting Piping Plovers, “How Plover Chicks Born in a Parking Lot Spurred a City to Make Its Beach Safer.”

Piping Plover Stories and Photos 2016 –2020