Hatchlings Claim West Island Town Beach – Lloyd Center Plover July 2025 Nesting Update

With beach season in full swing and shorebird season on the home stretch, it’s time for an update on the Piping Plover nesting season for sites we manage. Events have included early hatches of broods that fledged, loss of nests or hatchlings to predators  limited nest or egg loss to abandonment and high tide overwash, and late hatches for re-nests with plover chicks nearing fledge stage.

Close to home in Dartmouth, Salters and Nonquitt have produced a combined five broods (two at Salters, three at Nonquitt) with all broods producing some fledges. The two pairs on private Nonquitt property each fledged all four chicks, while two chicks fledged from a pair on the DNRT section. There were four nests between three pairs on DNRT Nonquitt, with three of the clutches predated by coyote, predators also taking two chicks from the DNRT brood.  Again this year we see the DNRT property is at a slight disadvantage being further from cottages and closer to the marsh, and therefore predators that live there. While the brood on a local private section at Salters lost three chicks, the parents were no less protective of their one surviving offspring which fledged. Below Salters Pond, after all nests were lost last year, a late nest hatched and three surviving chicks are going strong at this time. We’re optimistic chicks will fledge at the pond for the first time since the Lloyd Center started work at Salters.

The Westport Season has been less successful, the lead story being the sad absence of the infamous parking lot pair of Bakers Beach for the first time in decades. Whether they suffered mortality over the winter or found a new location is pure speculation, but next season we’ll be watching and hoping for their return. but nesting occurred as usual just west on other private property that we also manage, one nest hatching but hatchlings predated, and a late two-egg nest in a similar location suffering canid predation.   

Just west of the Westport River, both Elephant Rock (Cockeast Pond)  and Atlantic Beach Club/Westport Land Conservation Trust (Richmond Pond) properties initially had a territorial pair, but both pairs ultimately nested on Elephant Rock beach which received dune and beach restoration in the off season, the Richmond Pond beach also slightly eroded this year. Neither initial nest at Elephant Rock succeeded, one nest hatching but suffering hatchling predation by fox, the other abandoning the clutch following an unfortunate adult mortality from the pair to an undetermined cause but possibly due to impacts from a major nor’easter.  A third late nest occurred that was either a new pair, or a pair including the remaining adult that lost its mate to mortality and found a new mate. This nest was ultimately predated during the July wave of nest predation that affected some of our sites.

The success of the season has occurred at West Island Town Beach, where in recent years predation has limited hatching to one nest at most.  After suffering predation of initial clutches, four pairs all produced broods on re-nests with 13 total hatchlings well on their way to the fledge stage. This marks the most hatchlings since 2019, and assuming all chicks fledge the most fledges since 2018, the highest fledge percent since 2014, and one of the most productive town beach seasons on record. 

Nesting and brood territories have been evenly distributed across the entire beach from a new location near the cottages to the far point just before the state beach.  The chicks are using each fenced refuge area and venturing to the public beach and onto the access path. Broods near the estuary lagoon are alternating between its feeding habitat and the bay side intertidal zone, and resting in the low interdune vegetation in our refuges to escape the heat and beach goer traffic.  The West Island community is seeing young birds close up, and can better understand the importance of the effort.  

At Winsegansett Heights a pair nested twice, the first clutch predated and the next clutch partially overwashed by moon tides that coincided with a nor’easter. The eggs likely hatched but young were never seen. An American Oystercatcher pair also likely produced hatchlings again this season, but also were never seen and presumably were predated.

New this season was discovery of a nesting pair on the east shore of Padanaram Harbor on a property used for the winter waterfowl survey. One each of a plover and oystercatcher pair were discovered on the isolated sand spits along the salt marsh. While the plover nest was predated, this discovery is important as confirmation that activity and habitat exists on both sides of the harbor. The oystercatcher pair produced one surviving chick which will add to records for nesting of oystercatchers.

When plover nesting is completed, we continue our site visits to interact with beach goers that have questions, conduct research on the shorebird migration including data collected for Manomet’s International Shorebird Survey, and document other sea life that may appear along our shores during the summer months. These post-breeding surveys shed light on the ecological value of each site beyond the shorebird nesting season, and provide a foundation for potential future research work.

At this time we thank all of the volunteers providing insight or updates during the season, and of course those that continue to fund the Lloyd Center’s efforts protecting this still officially endangered species. Stay tuned for the final wrap-up that includes results of the post-breeding season surveys at various sites.