12/12/2023 0 Comments Tide little compton riPiping plovers are doing well in Rhode Island. Zoom out a bit from that frame of the chick on the Narrow River scratching behind its ear, and the picture looks more troubling. Signs explain in human language why the protections are in place. In most areas where they come year after year, the ropes are installed preemptively. Workers will put up exclosures to protect nests from predators, and ropes to protect nesting sites from humans. The birds generally return from their winter grounds in March or April. In the decades since, they’ve slowly but steadily recovered in Rhode Island. In the mid-1980s, piping plovers were listed federally as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Houses along the shore took over habitat, and human development brought in predators like foxes and crows. The birds aren’t as reactive to humans, but consider dogs a threat. Humans trampled the tiny nests that the birds scrape into beaches, or brought their furry friends, which are a problem both on and off leash. Hunted for their feathers to adorn the foppish hats of yesteryear, their eggs purloined by souvenir seekers, piping plovers were then pushed further toward extinction as the federal highway system allowed people to get to the coasts more easily. “These birds deserve a place to exist,” Cooper said.įor years, the balance was decidedly in favor of human needs. What the broader tensions highlight, the people who have helped pull them back from the brink say, is a choice - not between a bird’s life and a human’s life, but between a bird’s life and a human’s desire to walk a dog on certain beaches without a leash. “Visitors to the shoreline will still need to behave in a way that’s respectful and doesn’t disturb, harass, or take any piping plovers,” said Cooper, of The Nature Conservancy.Ī sign at Mouth of the Narrow River beach in Narragansett, R.I. The Endangered Species Act is still the Endangered Species Act, and it still lists piping plovers threatened. The new law won’t change anything about the management of piping plovers. People who spend time conserving these birds are keeping an eye on potential conflicts. How will piping plover conservation interact with Rhode Island’s new law giving people the right to access the shore if they’re within 10 feet of the recognizable high tide line? That new access line is much further up the beach than the mean high tide line. A swath of the beach there is controlled by the federal government as a wildlife refuge down to the mean high tide line - and marked off there with posts and ropes to protect the birds’ nesting spots. Moonstone Beach, meanwhile, is more secluded from human contact. But one man pulled up in his kayak at a respectful distance and told The Nature Conservancy and the Fish & Wildlife Service that he loved seeing those birds. In their own way, each illuminated the promise and the challenges of Rhode Island’s piping plovers.Īt the heavily trafficked Narrow River site, leftover evidence of a beach fire smoldered in the sand. The US Fish & Wildlife Service and The Nature Conservancy Rhode Island, which each plays a role in piping plover conservation in the state, along with the Department of Environmental Management, recently took The Boston Globe on a tour of two piping plover sites - the one at the Narrow River and another on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown. Then the ruse is up: They fly off just before the snap of the jaws. The adults demonstrate their devotion to their chicks with a “broken wing” display, where they’ll pretend their wing is broken to get predators to chase them, instead of the offspring. Like some humans, they winter in the south, from the Carolinas to the Caribbean. Some people pronounce them “ploe-ver,” but it’s also fun to pronounce it as if it rhymes with “lover.” Weighing just 2 ounces, the adults look like their beaks are dipped in ink, with a curved black streak across the brow. A piping plover chick on Moonstone Beach in South Kingston R.I.
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