Updated November 8
Climate change, plastic pollution, and human activity are disturbing the peace of shorebirds on the Islands.
After piping plovers were added to the endangered species list in 1986, Mass Audubon launched the Coastal Waterbird Program that same year to conserve the birds’ populations. The program is designed to monitor and protect shorebirds and their habitats. According to Mass Audubon’s website, the program protects 140 miles of Massachusetts’s coastline, and manages 20 to 50 percent of the state’s American oystercatcher, piping plover, and least tern populations. Among these shorebirds, piping plovers are the only species that has a current conservation status of threatened on both a state and a national level.
According to a press release, piping plover numbers in Massachusetts went up from 476 pairs in 1985 to 1,818 pairs in 2019. However, Sam Kefferstan, director of Nantucket Wildlife Sanctuaries and manager of the Coastal Waterbird Program for the Islands, said this is short of the United States Fisheries and Wildlife Service’s goal of 2,000 pairs in its Piping Plover Atlantic Coast Population Recovery Plan.
“We’re certainly making progress with their recovery, but we haven’t quite made the recovery goal,” Kefferstan said. “Although it represents an ongoing conservation success story, there are definitely concerns ahead, such as climate change and pollution, that seem to be standing in the way of the potential of ever getting these species removed from the endangered and threatened species list.”
According to Mass Audubon’s 2017 State of the Birds report, rising sea levels, sea surface temperature increases, and stronger storms are among the threats shorebirds and their nesting grounds will face in the coming years. Kefferstan said shorebirds make their nests only a few feet from the high tide line, so changes to the environment can have “eye-catching” effects. A burgeoning least tern colony’s nests and its eggs at Tisbury Great Pond in West Tisbury were recently found flooded in around an inch of water. Many shorebird nests on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket were lost to flooding. Kefferstan said flooding losses like this will increase in the near future. Additionally, nesting grounds are expected to decrease from sea level rises and beach erosion.
Human activity on beaches can also affect the growth of shorebird chicks, particularly piping plovers. Piping plovers have a more laissez-faire parenting style compared with songbirds, such as robins. While the piping plover parents will be nearby, it is the chicks’ responsibility to forage and find insects to eat in the intertidal areas. Piping plover chicks can travel half a mile during their first 24 hours alive in an effort to double their weight with food.
“For them, every moment they aren’t feeding matters. Every movement they make means growth potential that’s lost,” Kefferstan said. “If they’re spending that energy hiding from an unleashed pet, a beachgoer, or a kite, that energy loss translates to developing the ability to fly in 35 days, as opposed to 28. That week makes a big difference in terms of their survival.”
Kefferstan said it’s usually a “death by a thousand cuts,” rather than a single factor, that kills the unlucky birds.
A big human-made problem is plastic pollution and litter. Shorebird monitor Emily Mello recently found a piping plover hatchling choking on a nylon balloon string, most likely mistaking it for a worm. Kefferstan said this chick was lucky enough to pass the string through its system, but many others are not so fortunate. The chick was able to take flight, but it lagged behind its siblings, and is now more vulnerable to predators such as seagulls and crows.
Kefferstan said it was “heartbreaking” for Mello, because monitors are only allowed to observe the birds without intervening. According to Kefferstan, the rescue of a chick is a last-resort option, because the parents are usually the ones who can care for them the best. Kefferstan said the monitors work closely with the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife’s Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program, and the state makes the final call on whether a rescue is the right decision.
“You can imagine there’s a lot of risk doing that [the rescue], especially since something of that magnitude [ingested nylon balloon string], we need to bring the plover off-Island,” Kefferstan said. “That time adds up, and that’s time they’re not on the beach doing what they ought to be.”
Kefferstan hopes the spreading awareness of the human harm that can occur will bolster conservation efforts of threatened and endangered species. Taking on climate change is a community effort, but Kefferstan said there are things in people’s everyday lives they can do to mitigate harm to shorebirds. These include simple acts, such as picking up after yourself, and putting trash and recyclables in the correct disposal bins. Other ways to minimize the harm to shorebirds are leashing pets and respecting beach fencing. “People, by and large, want to help, but just don’t know how,” Kefferstan said.
Kefferstan also encourages people to join volunteer programs to help protect the environment and the creatures in it. One example he gave was at Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary, where a volunteer group is being built to monitor and protect threatened and endangered species, such as the piping plover. Kefferstan said volunteers will be shown the ropes and be put to work quickly. Those interested in joining can contact Kefferstan at skefferstan@massaudubon.org for more information.
Corrections were made for when Sam Kefferstan’s name was spelled incorrectly. Additional information from Kefferstan was also added.