Tag: Jeff Denoncour

WELCOMING BACK GLOUCESTER’S PIPING PLOVERS AND WHY BANDING OUR GOOD HARBOR BEACH NESTING PAIR IS NOT A GOOD IDEA

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Hello dear Piping Plover Friends and Partners,

As are you, I am looking forward to the return of our Gloucester Plovers. With the relatively mild winter we are experiencing, and the fact they have been arriving earlier and earlier each spring, we could be seeing our tiny shorebird friends in little over a month.

About this time of year I imagine well wishers and monitors are becoming anxious, wondering if our PiPls survived all the challenges winter brings to migrating birds.

Gloucester’s Mated Piping Plover Pair, Mama in the background, Dad in the fore.

Last August at the Coastal Waterbird Conservation Cooperators meeting, I met Professor Paton. He is involved with a program that bands and nanotags birds at Southern New England beaches, mostly Rhode Island beaches. He provided some terrific maps based on the data collected from the banding program.

After departing Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the majority of the program’s tagged PiPls are soon found foraging on the shores of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Cape Lookout National Seashore, and Cumberland Island National Seashore, GA. Data suggests that the Outer Banks are a priority stopover site for Piping Plovers well into the late summer. After leaving our shores, southern New England Piping Plovers spend on average 45 days at NC barrier beaches before then heading to the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos.

Although our Good Harbor Beach Piping plovers are not tagged, there is no reason to believe that they too are not traveling this route.

As you can see in the map above, it’s easy to understand why the majority of Southern New England PiPls stage in North Carolina.

Why wouldn’t we want to tag out GHB family? Not often publicized is the down side of tagging. Some species of birds adapt well to tagging and some, like Piping Plovers, develop life threatening problems like leg movement disorder. But most troubling of all is that small sticks and other debris can become lodged between the skin and the tag, which causes the area to become infected, which has lead to loss of leg. Tiny shorebirds like Piping Plovers use their legs to propel them all over the beach, to both forage and escape danger. Left crippled by the loss of a leg, the birds will barely survive another year. At one point several years back there was even a moratorium placed on banding plovers.

Perhaps if we had dozens of pairs of Piping Plovers nesting all over around Cape Ann it would be worth the risk of banding a bird or two. But with only one nesting pair, coupled with the typical survival rate of Piping Plovers at less than five years, why not let our one pair nest in peace? Plovers at popular city beaches need all the help they can get from their human stewards. I for one am happy to simply imagine where our GHB PiPls spend the winter.

If you have ever been to a New Jersey beach, you might be sickened as was I to see birds with no less than eight tags, four on each leg. It doesn’t make sense to me in this day and age why one band wouldn’t suffice. Each time the bird was spotted the one set of data  provided by one tag could be recorded in a national database.

According to coastal ecologist with The Trustees of Reservations, Jeff Denoncour, this past year (2019), 49 pairs of plovers raised 96 chicks at Crane Beach. They do not band birds at Crane Beach, nor are birds banded at other beaches where the PiPl has been successfully increasing in population, including Winthrop Shore Reservations and Revere Beach.

The species existence is precarious. In 2000 at Crane Beach just 12 fledglings survived 49 pairs and that was because of a major storm. Considering all that a Piping Plover pair has to face at the city’s most popular beach, we don’t need to decrease their chances of survival.

It’s wonderful and reassuring to see updated reports of banded birds we have observed at Good Harbor Beach however, because of data collected in the past, we can fairly accurately imagine where our little family resides during the winter. Banding a single pair will only serve to satisfy our own curiosity, and will do nothing to increase the bird’s chance of survival.

ETM, spotted last year by PiPl monitor Heather Hall at Good Harbor Beach, is currently spending the winter on Cumberland Island, Georgia.

Seven too many bands on this bird!!! Bands are placed both above and below the tibiotarsal joint on plovers (terns are given bands below the tibiotarsal joint only). There are eight possible band locations on a bird’s leg according to banding schemes: The Upper Left Upper, Upper Left Lower (left leg, above the tibiotarsal joint), Lower Left Upper, Lower Left Lower (left leg, below the tibiotarsal joint), Upper Right Upper, Upper Right Lower (right leg, above the tibiotarsal joint), Lower Right Upper, and Lower Right Lower (right leg below the tibiotarsal joint).


Looking forward to the upcoming Piping Plover season!

Grant helps plovers have record year on Crane Beach, featuring Jeff Denoncour

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns
Grant helps plovers have record year on Crane Beach
Local Ne.ws
By John P. Muldoon

Rotary Club paid for three solar-powered electric fences

IPSWICH — Those little birds you see running around the beach don’t have it easy.

Although they have wings, they won’t fly to trees to build their nests. Instead, they scoop holes, or “scrapes,” in the sand and lay their eggs there.

And that’s an invitation for all kinds of trouble: predators, rogue waves, dogs, or clumsy or malicious humans.

Combined with widespread loss of habitat, piping plovers are now on the federal government’s threatened species list. One estimate says there are just 8,400 left worldwide.

But along with lease terns, which are protected in Massachusetts, the plovers are well taken care of on Crane Beach.

In fact, they were so well taken care of in 2019 that a record number of chicks fledged and are now ready for the next perilous phase of their lives — a migration to the Bahamas.

This year, 49 pairs of plovers raised 96 chicks, said Jeff Denoncour, coastal ecologist with The Trustees of Reservations.

The last year that good for the birds was in 1999, when 44 pairs produced 89 fledglings, he added.

To show how precarious the species’ existence can be, Denoncour said the year 2000 was disastrous. Just 12 fledglings survived despite the efforts of 49 pairs. “That was due to a major storm,” he explained.

READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE
Jeff Denoncour and Courtney Richardson last year at Jeff’s program on coastal ecology held at the Cape Ann Museum

TREMENDOUS COASTAL WATERBIRD CONSERVATION COOPERATORS MEETING!

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

On Tuesday I attended the Coastal Waterbird Conservation Cooperators meeting, which took place at the Harwich Community Center on Cape Cod. The meeting is held annually to bring together people and organizations that are involved with population monitoring and conservation efforts on behalf of coastal waterbirds. Threatened and endangered species such as Least Terns, Piping Plovers, Roseate Terns, and American Oystercatchers are given the greatest attention.

I was invited by Carolyn Mostello, event organizer, to create a short film, Gloucester Plovers Go Swimming, for the “Strange and Unusual” section. The film features our three little chicks SWIMMING in the tidal creek (see next post). I also provided a group of photos of the late hatching chicks for DCR. The film and the photos were well-received, which was gratifying to me, to be of help in documenting and sharing these wonderful stories.

Conservationists from all seven Massachusetts coastal regions participated, as well as conservationists from nearby states, including representatives from Maine, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. To name just some of the organizations presenting at the meeting-Mass Wildlife, Trustees of Reservations, Essex Greenbelt, Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), Mass Audubon, and US Fish and Wildlife.

In the morning, each region gave the 2019 population census report for nesting birds as well as providing information about problems and solutions. We all share similar challenges with predation from crows and gulls, uncontrolled dogs, enforcement, and habitat loss and it was very interesting to learn about how neighboring communities are managing problems and issues.

Trustees of Reservations Coastal Ecologist Jeff Denoncour presented on behalf of the north of Boston region, of which Gloucester is a part. Essex Greenbelt’s Director of Land Stewardship Dave Rimmer and intern Fionna were in attendance as well. Both Crane Beach and Parker River are having a fantastic year and the numbers are up across Massachusetts, Maine, and Rhode Island. There are still many young chicks yet to fledge on Massachusetts beaches so the final count has not been determined.

The afternoon session was filled with outstanding lectures presented by conservation biologists and all the programs were tremendously informative.

I met Beth Howard from Mass Audubon, who has been involved with care taking the L Street Piping Plovers and Paige Hebert from Mass Wildlife who has been helping manage Roseate Terns. The DCR staff managing the shorebirds at Nahant, Salisbury, Winthrop, and Revere Beach were all there and they are just a stellar group of young people.

It was a great day! Many attendees expressed congratulations for Gloucester fledging three chicks. Last year after attending the meeting I wrote the following and it’s wonderful that our hope for Gloucester’s Plovers was realized this year: “After attending the cooperators meeting, I am more hopeful than ever that our community can come together and solve the problems that are preventing our PiPl from successfully nesting and fledging chicks. What we have going in our favor is the sheer number of amazing super volunteers along with strong community-wide support.”  

FANTASTIC PIPING PLOVER NEWS FROM COASTAL ECOLOGIST JEFF DENONCOUR AT CRANE BEACH

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Jeff Denoncour, Trustees of Reservations Coastal Ecologist, shares some record breaking Piping Plover news from Crane Beach. Jeff writes that “at Crane 49 pairs nested and 87 chicks have fledged, with 8 chicks remaining, a great year and breaking records for Crane!”

Piping Plover lift off, times two!

CRANE BEACH PIPING PLOVER UPDATE FROM TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS JEFF DENONCOURT

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

 

Trustees of Reservations ecologist Jeff Denoncour kindly shares information about the Piping Plovers at Crane Beach and he wrote two days ago with an update for us on their Piping Plover population. “Unfortunately the weather has been pretty inclement this year making it tough to monitor and really nail down the number of pairs. That mixed with an abundance of birds and a lot of loss due to storms and high tides and a bit of predation its really hard for me to get an accurate pair count right now. I am estimating that we have more than 33 plover pairs.

So far we have discovered 36 plover nests, but right now we only have 19 active nests. 3 of the 36 nests are renests, which is why I’m saying we have 33 or more pairs. Some pairs have been scraping consistently in areas but have not laid eggs.

Our first nest is due to hatch tomorrow.”

I sent him an email this morning and hopefully we’ll have news of hatchlings!

If you would like to learn more about the outstanding work of the Trustees of Reservations Shorebird Protection Program go here.

Least Tern (left) and Common Tern Crane Beach

FANTASTIC PRESENTATION BY CRANE BEACH ECOLOGIST JEFF DENONCOUR AT THE CAPE ANN MUSEUM

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Jeff Denoncour, the Trustees of Reservations Eastern Region Ecologist, gave an outstanding and informative presentation to a packed audience Saturday afternoon. Subjects included the formation and history of Crane Beach, marsh, and dunes; the seven uniquely different ecological zones; the many species of flora and fauna that comprise the rich biodiversity at Castle Island; and the Trustees protective measures managing rare and endangered species.

Since 2010, Jeff has managed the Trustees Shorebird Protection Program at Crane Beach. Because of the very excellent shorebird management at Crane Beach, 2018 was a banner year, with 42 pairs of nesting Piping Plovers and approximately one hundred PiPl chicks fledged. Our community can learn a great deal from the success at Crane Beach in how to better manage shorebirds migrating and nesting at Cape Ann beaches.

We learned from Jeff that Crane Beach is part of a string of barrier beaches formed from sediment deposited by the outflow of the Merricmack River. Salisbury Beach is at the northern end, then Plum Island, then Crane, with Coffins and Wingaersheek at the southern end. The sand that was deposited at Salisbury Beach is the coarsest; the sand at Wingaersheek the lightest and finest as it would have more easily flowed furthest away from the mouth of the river.

Excerpt from a previous post OUTSTANDING COASTAL WATERBIRD CONSERVATION COOPERATORS MEETING! talking about Jeff and the success of the Crane Beach Trustees Piping Plover

“Readers will be interested to know that our region’s Crane Beach continues to have one of their best year’s ever. Trustees of Reservations Jeff Denoncour shared information on the latest census data from 2018 and Crane Beach has a whopping 76 fledglings, with 25 more chicks still yet to fledge. Because of the huge success at Crane Beach, the northeast region, of which we are a part, has fledged a total 136 of chicks in 2018, compared to 108 in 2017, and as I said, with more fledglings still to come! The northeast region encompasses Salisbury Beach to the Boston Harbor Islands.

Jeff noted that this year they had less predation by Great Horned Owls. Because of owl predation, several years ago the Trustees gave up on the wire exclosures and now use electric fencing extensively. The Great Horned Owls learned that the Piping Plover adults were going in an out of the exclosures and began perching on the edge of the wire, picking off the adults as they were entering and exiting the exclosure.

Crane has an excellent crew of Trustees staff monitoring the Least Terns and Piping Plovers, as well as excellent enforcement by highly trained police officers. No dogs are allowed on Crane Beach during nesting season and dogs are prevented from entering at the guarded gate. As we saw from one of the graphics presented about nesting Double-crested Cormorants, when a dog runs through a nesting area, the adults leave the nest, temporarily leaving the eggs and chicks vulnerable to predation by crows, gulls, raptors, and owls.”

Jeff Denoncour and Courtney Richardson, Director of Education and Public Programs at the Cape Ann Museum

TODAY – Reminder Cape Ann Museum Crane beach talk 3pm

Posted on by Catherine

courtesy photo for cape ann museum_0448 © t. barrieau the trustees

photo credit: T. Barrieau/The Trustees

Courtney Richardson at the Cape Ann Museum shares information about an upcoming special event at the museum:

Lecture – Life on the Edge: The Ecology of Crane Beach, Saturday Jan. 19th, 3PM

The Cape Ann Museum, in collaboration with The Trustees, is pleased to present a lecture about the natural history and ecological significance of Crane Beach with ecologist Jeff Denoncour. This program is offered in conjunction with the special exhibition Sky/Horizon/Light: Perspectives on Crane Beach. This program is free for Museum members, Trustees members, Cape Ann residents or with Museum admission. Reservations required. For more information visit capeannmuseum.org or call 978-283-0455 x10. 

When one thinks of Crane Beach, the sea, sun, and sand might be the first things that come to mind. But how did the forces of nature create the stunning landscape? What’s special about this incredible barrier beach and marshlands it protects? How do The Trustees protect special places and care for our vulnerable coast? Join Jeff Denoncour, an ecologist with The Trustees, for a dive into the natural history and ecological significance of Crane Beach, how they protect our coastal resources, and examples of success stories resulting from their work.

Jeff Denoncour is the Eastern Region Ecologist with The Trustees where he manages and monitors ecological resources on its properties in Eastern Massachusetts. Jeff grew up on Cape Ann and has spent most of his life living along the coast. He has 11 years of experience managing rare and endangered shorebirds that nest on beaches. For the past eight years, he has been managing the Shorebird Protection Program on Crane Beach, as well as other natural resources that make the Crane Beach such a treasured place.

This program is offered in conjunction with Sky/Horizon/Light: Perspectives on Crane Beach a special exhibition of the paintings of Dorothy “Doffie” Arnold.  The works on view at the Cape Ann Museum offer an ever changing vista of Crane Beach as observed across Ipswich Bay from Arnold’s studio in Bay View (Gloucester). Painted in the 1980s, these acrylics on paper are part of larger series of works by Arnold that take as their subject the intersection of water, land and light viewed from a single vantage point over a period of years. With a low horizon line, a sky that is often turbulent and waters that range from placid to racing, the paintings reflect the strong influence of nature on the artist and her work.

A 1980 graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Dorothy Arnold maintained studios in Cambridge and Gloucester. While much of her work is large scale, the Crane Beach paintings measure just 11×15 inches. Her work, which includes landscapes, still lives, figure studies and abstractions, was the subject of an international retrospective in 2001–2003. It was Arnold’s wish to exhibit her art locally in an effort to strengthen the community’s appreciation of the culture and traditions of the area.

cape ann museum flyer for life on the edge the ecology of crane beach special lecture in collaboration with the trustees_during dorothy arnold exhibition jan 2019

About the Cape Ann Museum Continue reading “TODAY – Reminder Cape Ann Museum Crane beach talk 3pm” →

Cape Ann Museum & The Trustees present “Life On the Edge: The Ecology of Crane Beach” Jeff Denoncour lecture

Posted on by Catherine

courtesy photo for cape ann museum_0448 © t. barrieau the trustees

photo credit: T. Barrieau/The Trustees

Courtney Richardson at the Cape Ann Museum shares information about an upcoming special event at the museum:

Lecture – Life on the Edge: The Ecology of Crane Beach, Saturday Jan. 19th, 3PM

The Cape Ann Museum, in collaboration with The Trustees, is pleased to present a lecture about the natural history and ecological significance of Crane Beach with ecologist Jeff Denoncour. This program is offered in conjunction with the special exhibition Sky/Horizon/Light: Perspectives on Crane Beach. This program is free for Museum members, Trustees members, Cape Ann residents or with Museum admission. Reservations required. For more information visit capeannmuseum.org or call 978-283-0455 x10. 

When one thinks of Crane Beach, the sea, sun, and sand might be the first things that come to mind. But how did the forces of nature create the stunning landscape? What’s special about this incredible barrier beach and marshlands it protects? How do The Trustees protect special places and care for our vulnerable coast? Join Jeff Denoncour, an ecologist with The Trustees, for a dive into the natural history and ecological significance of Crane Beach, how they protect our coastal resources, and examples of success stories resulting from their work.

Jeff Denoncour is the Eastern Region Ecologist with The Trustees where he manages and monitors ecological resources on its properties in Eastern Massachusetts. Jeff grew up on Cape Ann and has spent most of his life living along the coast. He has 11 years of experience managing rare and endangered shorebirds that nest on beaches. For the past eight years, he has been managing the Shorebird Protection Program on Crane Beach, as well as other natural resources that make the Crane Beach such a treasured place.

This program is offered in conjunction with Sky/Horizon/Light: Perspectives on Crane Beach a special exhibition of the paintings of Dorothy “Doffie” Arnold.  The works on view at the Cape Ann Museum offer an ever changing vista of Crane Beach as observed across Ipswich Bay from Arnold’s studio in Bay View (Gloucester). Painted in the 1980s, these acrylics on paper are part of larger series of works by Arnold that take as their subject the intersection of water, land and light viewed from a single vantage point over a period of years. With a low horizon line, a sky that is often turbulent and waters that range from placid to racing, the paintings reflect the strong influence of nature on the artist and her work.

A 1980 graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Dorothy Arnold maintained studios in Cambridge and Gloucester. While much of her work is large scale, the Crane Beach paintings measure just 11×15 inches. Her work, which includes landscapes, still lives, figure studies and abstractions, was the subject of an international retrospective in 2001–2003. It was Arnold’s wish to exhibit her art locally in an effort to strengthen the community’s appreciation of the culture and traditions of the area.

cape ann museum flyer for life on the edge the ecology of crane beach special lecture in collaboration with the trustees_during dorothy arnold exhibition jan 2019

About the Cape Ann Museum Continue reading “Cape Ann Museum & The Trustees present “Life On the Edge: The Ecology of Crane Beach” Jeff Denoncour lecture” →

OUTSTANDING COASTAL WATERBIRD CONSERVATION COOPERATORS MEETING!

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Piping Plover Chick Lift-off! – Not quite ready to fly yet, but testing his wings and airborne for a few seconds.

On Tuesday this past week my friend Deborah and I attended the Coastal Waterbird Conservation Cooperators meeting, which took place at Cape Cod Community College in Barnstable. The meeting is held annually to bring together people and organizations that are involved with population monitoring and conservation efforts on behalf of coastal waterbirds. Threatened and endangered species such as Least Terns, Piping Plovers, and American Oystercatchers are given the greatest attention, while the meeting also encompasses efforts on behalf of heron, cormorant, and egret species.

American Oystercatchers

Conservationists from all seven Massachusetts coastal regions participated, as well as conservationists from nearby states, including representatives from New Jersey, Maine, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. To name just some of the organizations presenting at the meeting-Mass Wildlife, Trustees of Reservations, Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), and US Fish and Wildlife. Gloucester was well represented. In addition to Deborah and myself, two members of the Animal Advisory Committee also attended; chairperson Alicia Pensarosa and former animal control officer Diane Corliss. Many of you may remember our Mass Wildlife Piping Plover intern Jasmine. She was there to give a presentation on habitat vegetation utilized by nesting Piping Plovers. Her aunt, Gloucester’s Terry Weber, was there to support Jasmine. This was Jasmine’s first time speaking in public and she did an excellent job!

Each region gave the 2018 population census report for nesting birds as well as providing information about problems and solutions. We all share similar challenges with predation from crows and gulls, uncontrolled dogs, enforcement, and habitat loss and it was very interesting to learn about how neighboring communities are managing problems and issues.

Just one highlight of a day filled with helpful insights and useful information is that we can be very proud of our state—Massachusetts is at the leading edge of the Piping Plover recovery effort. The representative from New Jersey was there specifically to learn from Massachusetts conservationists on how they could possibly improve their recovery program as the New Jersey PiPl population is not growing, with fewer and fewer each year retuning to nest. As you can see from the graph provided at the meeting, the Canadian recovery is going very poorly as well.

Readers will be interested to know that our region’s Crane Beach continues to have one of their best year’s ever. Trustees of Reservations Jeff Denoncour shared information on the latest census data from 2018 and Crane’s has a whopping 76 fledglings, with 25 more chicks still yet to fledge. Because of the huge success at Cranes Beach, the northeast region, of which we are a part, has fledged a total 136 of chicks in 2018, compared to 108 in 2017, and as I said, with more fledglings still to come! The northeast region encompasses Salisbury Beach to the Boston Harbor Islands.

Jeff noted that this year they had less predation by Great Horned Owls. Because of owl predation, several years ago Crane Beach gave up on the wire exclosures and now use electric fencing extensively. The Great Horned Owls learned that the Piping Plover adults were going in an out of the exclosures and began perching on the edge of the wire, picking off the adults as they were entering and exiting the exclosure.

Crane has an excellent crew of Trustees staff monitoring the Least Terns and Piping Plovers, as well as excellent enforcement by highly trained police officers. No dogs are allowed on Crane Beach during nesting season and dogs are prevented from entering at the guarded gate. As we saw from one of the graphics presented about nesting Double-crested Cormorants, when a dog runs through a nesting area, the adults leave the nest, temporarily leaving the eggs and chicks vulnerable to predation by crows, gulls, raptors, and owls.

Crane Beach Least Tern fledgling.

Compare the Least Tern to Common Tern in the above photo. It’s easy to see why the birds are called Least Terns; they are North America’s smallest member of the tern and gull family (Crane Beach).

Another interesting bit of information shared–if you listen to our podcasts, back in April, we talked about the potential dilemma of what would happen if Snowy Owls remained on the beaches as the Piping Plovers returned from their winter grounds. Knowing that Snowy Owls (Bubo scandiacus) and Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus) are close cousins and that the Great Horned Owl eats Piping Plover chicks and adults, I was concerned that a Snowy might eat our PiPl. At one particular beach on Cape Cod, a Snowy stayed through mid-July. An adult Piping Plover skull was found in the owl’s pellet.

Snowy Owls remained in Massachusetts this year through July.

After attending the cooperators meeting, I am more hopeful than ever that our community can come together and solve the problems that are preventing our PiPl from successfully nesting and fledging chicks. What we have going in our favor is the sheer number of amazing super volunteers along with strong community-wide support.  

Piping Plover fully fledged and flying up and down the beach – we”ll have these next year!