By Victor Tine
PLUM ISLAND — The piping plover population on Plum Island (try saying that five times fast) is having a good season, according to figures from the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge.
Seven pairs of the tiny shorebirds, classified as a "threatened" species by the U.S. Department of the Interior, have produced 14 chicks this season, Sarah Janson, a biological technician at the refuge, said yesterday.
Ten of those chicks have already fledged, or learned to fly, Janson said.
In contrast, during the 2008 breeding season, nine pairs of adult plovers produced only six fledglings, she said.
"At the end of the season last year, the number of chicks was very low, due to bad weather and predation, and a couple of other causes," Janson said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service closes the refuge beach to humans each year on April 1, the start of the plover nesting season, to protect the birds, which nest directly on the beach.
The nesting habits of the plover make it vulnerable not only to humans, but to tides, storms and predators, such as foxes and skunks.
The refuge opens sections of the beach gradually, after staffers have determined that the chicks in a particular area have fledged or, conversely, that there are no viable nests left at a location.
Janson said three parking lots are currently open: Lot 1, the main parking area just inside the refuge gates; and Lots 6 and 7 at the very southern end of the wildlife preserve.
According to a bulletin board at refuge headquarters on Plum Island Turnpike, there had been as many as 10 pairs and 17 chicks on the beach as of June 26.
Janson attributed the slight decline in numbers in the last few weeks mainly to a northeast storm that buffeted the area about the same time.
Janson said the Fish and Wildlife Service's goal for the plovers is 1.5 chicks per nesting pair, maintained over a five-year span.
Last year's ratio of 0.67 chicks per pair was the lowest since the Fish and Wildlife Service began closing the beach in 1986, according to figures supplied by the refuge.
