Disturbances Disrupted Bird Colonies at the Point in ’22

STONE HARBOR – Since 2015, Stone Harbor has run a successful Point Stewards Program, providing educational information for visitors and monitoring disturbances to nesting and migratory birds.
At times, the stewards must intervene to intercept visitors in closed nesting areas and address other unpermitted activities.
Stewards were on duty at Stone Harbor Point from May 28, 2022, to Sept. 5, 2022. An important aspect of their role is the documentation of disturbances.
Dr. Lenore Tedesco gave an update Jan. 17 to Stone Harbor Borough Council on the program, with a focus on the disturbances in 2022. Tedesco reported that disturbances were up last year, with 718 documented disturbances.
A large number of those disturbances involved watercraft landings, which deposited people and dogs often in areas closed to visitors.
Damage to the vehicle access road during the Mother’s Day storm last year hindered police patrols, which appear to have led to more attempts at inappropriate access to certain areas.
Tedesco said there was a 132% increase in watercraft landings in 2022.
Other disturbances were associated with walkers and joggers, low-flying aircraft, and an increase in the number of bicycles.
Tedesco said that without police presence, many boaters took advantage of the opportunity to land at the Point “without consequence.” She said some were respectful when stewards asked them to leave, while others were not.
“It was a difficult year,” Tedesco added.
One response the birds made to the incursions was to move nesting further east, which put them at the mercy of high tides.
Tedesco commended the borough on the passage of a resolution to make enforcement of rules concerning use access in certain areas easier, but, she said, by the time the new regulations were established the “colony had already collapsed.”
The new regulations will be in place for the 2023 season. Tedesco hopes that will give the colony an opportunity to reestablish itself.