2024 Plover and Tern Program Update

By SFBBO Education Specialist Laura Echavez Montenegro

This year, we monitored 328 Snowy Plover nests—our second highest total since we began in 2008, and just shy of the record set in 2017. It was a season full of both challenges and triumphs. We observed 510 chicks hatch, and despite the harsh reality of a 41% depredation rate—due to a mix of predators like ravens, harriers, red foxes, and feral cats—72 plover chicks fledged!

As for our banding efforts, we had one of our most successful seasons to date. A total of 232 chicks and 42 adults were banded, providing us with valuable data for ongoing research on dispersal, survival, reproductive success, and so much more. We look forward to exciting research, such as with our Motus tracking project in 2025!

Chick spotlight! - For the first time in the history of our program, we observed a fully leucistic Snowy Plover chick! Leucism is a genetic condition that results in the loss of pigment in the skin, feathers, and other tissues. Although we were not able to confirm whether it fledged or not, we are hopeful that this little one made it! (Photos by Josh Scullen).
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It was a slow season for the Least Terns. With the assistance of a dedicated team of volunteers, we monitored a total of 9 nests at Eden Landing Ecological Reserve (4 nests in the northern area and 5 nests in the southern area). Only one of those nests hatched two chicks that were likely depredated and did not fledge. However, a lot of adults and juveniles from nearby colonies used ELER as a stopover site during dispersal and migration! On multiple occasions we observed between 50-80 individuals foraging and roosting in the area.