Updates on other beachnesting birds

LEWES – The data is in, and DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife is reporting another successful nesting season for piping plovers in Delaware. For the second year in a row, Delaware established its all-time high number of recorded nesting piping plover pairs, with 19 pairs producing 52 fledglings.

Last year, Delaware had 16 pairs producing 36 fledglings. In 2019, four pairs of piping plovers nested at the Point at Cape Henlopen State Park, with 15 pairs nesting at Fowler Beach at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, a relatively new nesting site used by nesting piping plovers starting in 2016 following a habitat restoration project.

For the third year in a row, piping plovers did not nest at Gordons Pond within Cape Henlopen State Park, possibly due to the combined factors of encroaching vegetation limiting sandy nesting habitat, and the availability of more attractive nesting habitat at Fowler Beach.

The piping plover is a federally-listed threatened species and a Delaware state-listed endangered species. Recovery of the species involves partnerships between DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife and Division of Parks and Recreation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Wildlife Services.

In other beachnesting bird updates, two pairs of American oystercatchers nested at the Point at Cape Henlopen State Park and one pair nested at Delaware Seashore State Park, but none successfully hatched chicks. Approximately 23 pairs of least terns were found nesting at Cape Henlopen State Park this year, hatching two chicks, one of which fledged.

For additional information on piping plovers or other beachnesting birds, please call Henrietta Bellman with the Division of Fish & Wildlife’s Species Conservation and Research Program at 302-735-3600.

Media contact: Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Follow the Division of Fish & Wildlife on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/DelawareFishWildlife.

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Training to be held May 19

DOVER – DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife is seeking volunteers to help diamondback terrapins at a prominent nesting location where they come ashore to lay eggs, Port Mahon Road near Little Creek along the Delaware Bayshore. Optional volunteer training will be offered from 10:30 a.m. to noon, Sunday, May 19 at the Kent County Hunter Education Training Center at the Little Creek Wildlife Area, 3018 Bayside Drive, Dover, DE 19901. Light refreshments will be provided. An optional site visit to Port Mahon Road will follow the training.

Diamondback terrapins are a turtle species iconic to Delaware’s Bayshore, Inland Bays, and tidal creeks, spending their lives in brackish waters except when female terrapins leave the water to lay eggs each spring. At the peak of nesting season, hundreds of terrapin heads can be seen in the water off Port Mahon before female terrapins come ashore to lay their eggs when tide, temperature, and humidity conditions are right.

Port Mahon Road borders the Delaware Bay and is often flooded with water and debris during high tides and storm events. Large rocks are located along sections of Port Mahon Road for needed erosion protection. Terrapins can become trapped in these obstacles, and terrapins impeded from returning to the bay by the rocks after laying eggs are vulnerable to being hit by cars.

Efforts are underway to develop a solution that would allow unimpeded terrapin passage at Port Mahon Road, but until such time, volunteers are needed to help terrapins on their nesting journey by rescuing those caught in the rocks or helping them safely cross the road. Volunteers perform three-hour shifts around high tides from May 20 through July 31, walking or driving along the 2.1 mile road, searching for terrapins in need of assistance. The number of terrapins observed and location of each sighting are recorded on a datasheet to help guide future management.

Attending the training is not required to become a volunteer for this project, but is helpful for volunteers to gain an understanding of what is involved in rescuing terrapins. Pre-registration for the training is encouraged, but not required.

To volunteer to help nesting diamondback terrapins or register for the training, please contact the DNREC Division of Fish & Wildlife’s Wildlife Section by contacting Nate Nazdrowicz at 302-735-8688 or by email at nathan.nazdrowicz@delaware.gov. For more information on this project, visit Operation Terrapin Rescue.

Follow the Division of Fish & Wildlife on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/DelawareFishWildlife.

Contact: Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 49, No. 122

LEWES – DNREC’s Division of Parks & Recreation today announced that the Point at Cape Henlopen State Park, including a stretch of ocean beach and dunes, and a half mile along the bay shoreline, will close beginning Friday, March 1, for the benefit of threatened and endangered beachnesters and migratory shorebirds, including red knot, piping plovers, oystercatchers, least terns, and other species.

The nesting habitat on the ocean side will reopen Sept. 1. The bayside beach will remain closed until Oct. 1 for use by shorebirds migrating south for the winter.

DNREC’s Divisions of Parks & Recreation, Fish & Wildlife, and Watershed Stewardship have been working together since 1990 to implement a management plan to halt the decline of beachnester and migratory shorebird populations. The Point has been closed annually since 1993.

For more information, contact Cape Henlopen State Park at 302-645-8983.

Contact: Beth Shockley, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 49, No. 42

LEWES – DNREC’s Division of Parks & Recreation today announced that the Point at Cape Henlopen State Park, including a stretch of ocean beach and dunes, and a half mile along the bay shoreline, will reopen beginning Saturday, Sept. 1. The Point was closed on March 1 for the benefit of threatened and endangered beachnesters and migratory shorebirds, including red knots, piping plovers, oystercatchers, least terns, and other species.

The nesting habitat on the ocean side will reopen Sept. 1. The bayside beach will remain closed until Oct. 1 for use by shorebirds migrating south for the winter.

DNREC’s Divisions of Parks & Recreation, Fish & Wildlife and Watershed Stewardship have been working together since 1990 to implement a management plan to halt the decline of beachnester and migratory shorebird populations. The Point has been closed annually since 1993.

“We appreciate the public’s cooperation in this effort,” said Coastal Regional Administrator Pat Cooper. “DNREC is committed to providing protection for these species, hopefully to prevent them from disappearing in Delaware.”

For more information, contact Cape Henlopen State Park at 302-645-8983.

Contact: Beth Shockley, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 48, No. 236