Running on the sand, huddling in divots on the sloping beachfront, the small sand-colored, sparrow-sized birds are well camouflaged until they dash for another divot or patrol the beach at low tide, looking for small invertebrates. Their run-stop-run cadence looks almost comical, but it can confuse a predator looking for a moving bird. Their antics in the divots look as if they’re playing “King of the Hill,” with each divot they gain better than the one they left. They are very special winter residents at Crown Memorial State Beach here in Alameda, where a roped-off area helps reduce their disturbance.
Fewer than 2,500 of these birds remain along the entire West Coast of the United States, and are listed as threatened with extinction. Their population stretches from Washington state south through Baja California. Last year we were fortunate to host about 30 birds on our beach. When these small birds are disturbed and fly off from their resting area they use a lot of energy—energy they can’t afford to waste. Please help them by not crossing the barrier or otherwise disturbing resting birds. You may find them all along our beach, including at Crab Cove and at the Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary, not just near the roped enclosure on the beach between Coral Reef and Sand Beach streets along Shore Line Drive.
We’re very lucky to have found four snowy plovers this year that have been “banded.” Scientists mark some snowy plover chicks soon after they hatch with color-coded leg bands. The combination of colors helps the scientists to track individual birds. In the photos below, you can clearly see the combination of bands on each bird’s legs, like colorful bracelets. We have three birds banded in 2023 and one in 2024 from three different nest sites in Hayward and Newark. Check the captions below the photos to find out where they were banded and the age of each bird, then read on to find out more about snowy plovers’ lives and what’s being done to protect them from extinction.
About 10 years ago, the East Bay Regional Park District was alerted by some sharp-eyed bird lovers to the first set of overwintering Western snowy plovers that began using the beach. With citizen advocates leading the way, the Park District agreed to put up a seasonal symbolic fence that first year to allow the birds to roost on the beach with much less disturbance. With our mild winter weather, the beach in the area the plovers preferred had been a very active place with exercise groups and walkers constantly causing the birds to fly off.
Each winter since then, Park District staff erect the rope fence and signs in late fall to help the plovers have a safe place to rest during high tide and overnight. They don’t nest here but leave in the spring for their nesting grounds. The number of snowy plovers on our beach has slowly grown over the years. The birds migrate locally around the Bay from their nesting grounds, along with other shorebirds from much further away. They’re joined by some snowy plovers from other areas, especially from north or south of us and from the Central Valley.
Snowy plovers winter along the coast, especially along sandy beaches. They’ve been protected since 1993 as a threatened species with resources committed to help their population return from the risk of extinction. Their main threats are loss of nesting habitat and predation or harm from crows, ravens, gulls, cats, dogs, and humans. Much of their historic nesting habitat along beaches has been impacted by humans with intensive summertime activities as well as loss of natural shoreline to housing and businesses. In the wild, the Snowy Plovers have about a three-year lifespan but one banded bird lived to be 19 years old.
You can help scientists from the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory monitor these endangered birds. If you see any banded snowy plovers, send photos and report your sighting to [email protected]. Please include the location, date, number of plovers observed, and number of plovers checked for bands. Learn more about the Western snowy plovers at Western Snowy Plover Natural History and Population Trends and here: Snowy Plover Restoration in the South San Francisco Bay.
Now, about those snowy plovers in the above photo. How many did you see? There are at least 13 snowy plovers in the photo. Look for their white neck bands and chests.
POSTSCRIPT: In a recent development over the holiday weekend, about a dozen small shorebirds were found near the snowy plover area that had died of unknown causes (no snowy plovers). The East Bay Regional Park District is aware of this situation. We’re waiting to find out what may have caused these unfortunate deaths.
To learn more about the wild birds around us, join the Golden Gate Bird Alliance (GGBA) for free walks around the Bay Area.
This article is part of a monthly series for the Alameda Post by members of the Friends of the Alameda Wildlife Reserve (FAWR), a Conservation Committee of the GGBA.
Sharol Nelson-Embry was the Supervising Naturalist at the Doug Siden Visitor Center at Crab Cove for 26 years before retiring.
