Birds
From BBPA
Contents |
[edit] Sandpipers
 Sandpiper Tringa |
 Semipalmated Sandpiper |
 Least Sandpiper |
 Sanderling |
[edit] Terns
 Common Tern |
 Least Tern |
 Baby Least Tern |
 In Flight |
[edit] Herons
 Great Blue Heron |
 Little Blue Heron |
[edit] Egrets
 Snowy Egret |
 Common Egret |
[edit] Seagulls
 Herring Gull |
 Imature Herring Gull |
 Great Black-backed Gull |
 Immature Ring Billed Gull |
 Ring Billed Gull |
 Laughing Gull |
[edit] Osprey
 Osprey |
 Osprey Nest |
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[edit] American Oystercatcher
 American Oystercatcher |
 In Flight |
[edit] Black Skimmers
 Black Skimmer in Flight |
[edit] Cormorants
 Double Crested Coromorant |
[edit] Ducks
 Mallard |
 Mallard Hen |
 Wood Duck |
 Male Bufflehead |
 Female Bufflehead |
[edit] Brant
 Brant |
 In Flight video |
In the 1930s a disease virtually wiped out eelgrass, until then the favorite food of the Brant, and numbers of this species declined sharply. The survivors switched to the seaweed called sea lettuce. Eelgrass is abundant again in coastal bays, and the numbers of Brant have risen; there are now more than 100,000 wintering on the East Coast, and more than 150,000 on the Pacific Coast. These geese usually spend the winter in very large flocks, feeding on mudflats, constantly uttering their low, muttering calls. Migrating flocks can be identified at a great distance as they travel in erratic, constantly shifting bunches unlike the V-shaped flocks of Canada Geese or the long curved lines of Snow Geese. Many are shot by hunters each year, but a greater danger to the species is the steady loss of winter habitats to encroaching civilization.
description 22-30" (56-76 cm). Similar to Canada Goose but smaller, shorter-necked, darker, and lacking conspicuous white cheek patch. Dark brown above with black head and neck; white collar on neck, less conspicuous in Atlantic birds which have whitish bellies and flanks; West Coast birds have dark bellies and were formerly considered a separate species, the "Black Brant."
[edit] Piping Plovers & Lest Terns of the 2008 Season
The pictures below were taken on July 8, 2008. They were the next generation of chicks for this season. Plovers take about 4 weeks from when they hatch to when they fly.
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[edit] Things You Can Do to Help Protect the Piping Plover
Respect all areas fenced or posted for protection of wildlife.
Do not approach or linger near piping plovers or their nests.
Keep your pets leashed, near plover nests. Keep cats indoors.
Don't leave or bury trash or food scraps on beaches. Garbage attracts predators which may prey upon piping plover eggs or chicks.
[edit] Piping Plovers
Piping Plover Population Dynamics and Effects of Beach Management Practices on Piping Plovers at West Hampton Dunes and Westhampton Beach, New York
Lawrence M. Houghton Dissertation [1]
The piping plover is a small, stocky, sandy-colored bird resembling a sandpiper. The adult has yellow-orange legs, a black band across the forehead from eye to eye, and a black ring around the base of its neck. Like other plovers, it runs in short starts and stops. When still, the piping plover blends into the pale background of open, sandy habitat on outer beaches where it feeds and nests. The bird's name derives from its call notes, plaintive bell-like whistles which are often heard before the birds are seen.
he piping plover breeds on coastal beaches from Newfoundland and southeastern Quebec to North Carolina. These birds winter primarily on the Atlantic Coast from North Carolina to Florida, although some migrate to the Bahamas and West Indies.
Piping plovers were common along the Atlantic Coast during much of the 19th century, but nearly disappeared due to excessive hunting for the millinery trade. Following passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 1918, numbers recovered to a 20th Century peak which occurred during the 1940s. The current population decline is attributed to increased development and recreational use of beaches since the end of World War II. The most recent surveys place the Atlantic population at less than 1800 pairs.
Piping plovers return to their breeding grounds in late March or early April. Following establishment of nesting territories and courtship rituals, the pair forms a depression in the sand somewhere on the high beach close to the dunes. The nest is sometimes lined with small stones or fragments of shell.
Piping Plover Chick 'Broken Wing' Display The four eggs hatch in about 25 days, and the downy young are soon able to follow their parents in foraging for the marine worms, crustaceans, and insects that they pluck from the sand. Both the eggs and young are so well camouflaged that they are apt to go undetected unless stepped on. When predators or intruders come close, the young squat motionless on the sand while the parents attempt to attract the attention of the intruders to themselves, often by feigning a broken wing.
Surviving young fledge and are flying in about 30 days. However, storm tides, predators, or intruding humans sometimes disrupt nests before the eggs hatch. When this happens, the plovers often re-nest in the vicinity and young hatched from these late nesting efforts may not be flying until late August. Plovers often gather in groups on undisturbed beaches prior to their southward migration. By mid-September, both adult and young plovers will have departed for their wintering areas.
Several factors are contributing to the decline of the piping plover along the Atlantic Coast.
Commercial, residential, and recreational development have decreased the amount of coastal habitat available for piping plovers to nest and feed.
Human disturbance often curtails breeding success. Foot and vehicular traffic may crush nests or young. Excessive disturbance may cause the parents to desert the nest, exposing eggs or chicks to the summer sun and predators. Interruption of feeding may stress juvenile birds during critical periods in their development.
Pets, especially dogs, may harass the birds. Foxes Outside Plover Nest Enclosure
Developments near beaches provide food that attracts increased numbers of predators such as raccoons, skunks, and foxes. Domestic and feral cats are also very efficient predators of plover eggs and chicks.
Storm tides may inundate nests.
Protection Under the Endangered Species Act
The piping plover became a protected species under the Endangered Species Act on January 10, 1986. Along the Atlantic Coast it is designated as threatened, which means that the population would continue to decline if not protected. The Endangered Species Act provides penalties for taking, harassing or harming the piping plover and affords some protection to its habitat.
Other rare species that inhabit the beach ecosystem, including the Federally endangered roseate tern, the threatened northeastern beach tiger beetle, the threatened seabeach amaranth, the least tern, the common tern, the black skimmer, and the Wilson's plover, may benefit from piping plover protection efforts.
US Fish & Wildlife Service[2]
 Piping Plover |
 Piping Plover Breeding Plumage |
 Piping Plover Nest |
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