Piping Plovers Hatch in Corson’s Inlet, Volunteers Report Success

STRATHMERE – Volunteers of the “Strathmere Plover Project”, an Environmental Conservation Organization, in partnership with the NJDEP Fish and Wildlife Department, have once again banded together for a second bird nesting season to ensure continued success of breeding beach nesting birds.
Over the past several weeks diligent volunteers have taken to monitoring a piping plover nest and surrounding areas to ensure the birds can raise their young in safety.
On June 20th, four piping plovers hatched. Newly hatched Piping Plover chicks only weigh around six grams and resemble a fluffy cottonball. However, their twenty-five-day journey from tiny puff ball to a fledged adult is a perilous one.
Piping Plovers are precocial, this means they hatch well developed with downy feathers, and can run around and feed themselves soon after hatching. It is not uncommon to see the day-old birds weaving around towels, umbrellas, and sleeping sun-bathers as they forage along the water’s edge.
These independent yet vulnerable little birds still depend on their parents to keep them safe from predators and disturbances on the beach. Due to their size and well-camouflaged feathers, nests, and eggs, plovers become almost invisible in the sand. Volunteers take one-hour shifts during the nesting season, guarding the birds, educating people about them.
The Strathmere Plover Project welcomes new volunteers. Volunteers must be willing to attend a Zoom training prepared by the NJDEP Fish and Wildlife Department, have their own cellphone and binoculars, and be able to monitor the birds at least 1 hours per week for the duration of the season (late July).
Earlier this season the Strathmere Improvements Association (SIA), a community organization, and the Carter Family funded the donation of the signs in honor of Linda Carter Bateman, former long serving President of the SIA that provide information on the birds that nest on the beach in Strathmere. The new signs are located at the base of the footpath on the Strathmere side of Corson’s Inlet State Park.