Plovers are taking Over the Beaches

Whether you go to Winthrop Beach or Revere Beach you will see the roped off areas protecting the next season of piping plovers and terns.

The areas are roped off because the eggs blend in with the sand. Humans, dogs and predator birds are the biggest threat. But you won’t see a massive flock of birds. According to the Audubon Society there were a total of 13 pairs of piping plovers on Winthrop and Revere Beach in 2013. The result was the birth and survival of 1.5 fledgings. Terns, another coastal waterbird, have been counted as over 15,000 pairs.

DPW head Steve Calla recently told the Town Council that the eggs have been laid.

Piping plover was added to the endangered species list in 1986. This small coastal bird lays four eggs in a nest. Incubation is done by both the male and the female. . The birds used to be abundant on Cape Cod but have now traveled north to Winthrop, Revere and famously on Plum Island off Newburyport.