What To Make of Piping Plovers

On Cape Cod, we have several at risk (or threatened) species. The sand-plain gerardia, the roseate tern, and the northern red bellied cooter are on the endangered species list. Nobody gives these a second thought. Probably because there are so few that they are very seldom seen.

When was the last time you went out on the sand-plain looking for gerardia? And when was the last time you saw a cooter? Northern, southern, red or yellow bellied? What the hell is a cooter? Would I know one if I saw it?

The only one you hear about is the piping plover. It is threatened, not endangered, and anyone finding their way around the beaches in late April through June have come across the roped off areas that are posted “No Entry – Piping Plover breeding habitat”. Wouldn’t want to invade their little love nests. Heaven forbid!

A favorite walk is from the house to Kalmus Beach, down along the inland side beach, across the seawall and around the peninsula, traversing the Nantucket Sound beach and going back home again.

Around the whole sand spit that is Kalmus Beach, there will be a rope to ensure the piping plovers have enough privacy to breed (no peeking!). The rope will stay there until the chicks have hatched, grown up and fledged. There used to be some coyotes that lived in the woods around Snowy Creek, not far from Kalmus. There hasn’t been any sign of them lately – I think that someone saw them going after the plovers’ eggs and chicks and trapped them. Anything to save a plover! Not that anyone is necessarily sorry to see the coyotes go – that’s a whole other set of problems.

Plovers are not very big – they're slightly smaller than the common sparrow. The worst thing about plovers from my perspective is their disposition after the eggs hatch. At thirty yards away from the closest nest (which you can’t see because it is on top of a ten to twelve foot high sand dune), the adults will still dive bomb your head to try and back you off more. They never really hit, but they try their best to make you think that they will.

When they’re attacking it makes you think: “No wonder no one likes you guys.” They are nasty little birds that get people around here mad because, in the push to protect the plovers, they stop “over the sand” vehicles until late June (or even early July). You can pick out these guys – four wheel drive vehicles with huge sand tires and bumpers stickers that read “Piping Plovers – tastes like chicken”.