It’s easy to understand why beach-nesting birds get all the attention. What could need protection more than a baby bird that looks like a fluffball on legs running across a sandy beach with no way to defend itself?
But Tampa Bay and its beaches also are critically important to “snowbirds” like the endangered piping plover and red knots that travel thousands of miles every year between nesting grounds in the north and sunny Florida beaches.
A significant population of red knots, one of the most colorful shorebirds, spends its winters on Tampa Bay beaches although most of the population only stops here to feed and rest on an 18,000-mile annual migration from nesting sites in the Artic to the beaches of Tierra del Fuego in southern South America.
World-wide populations have plummeted about 75% since the 1980s and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently listed their populations as endangered. According to the FWS, they have lost much of their beach-front habitat to development. FWS also cited impacts of climate change and sea level rise on the beaches and food sources red knots depend upon.
The piping plover is a small (about the size of a robin) bird with a sandy-colored back, black neck band and orange bill and legs.
Only about 8,000 pairs of piping plovers remain in the US, in large part because so much of their habitat has been lost to development. Gulf beaches in the Tampa Bay region — from about Anclote Key south to Anna Maria — have become recognized as important wintering grounds for piping plovers.
Piping plovers, which nest on beaches on the north Atlantic coast, along the Great Lakes and on small islands in North Dakota, Montana and Nebraska, also are highly protected in the summer nesting grounds, said Julie Wraithmell, director of wildlife conservation for Audubon Florida. “Their habitats are very closely monitored, many of the birds are banded and some chicks are hand-reared if something happens to their parents.”
The plovers aren’t tracked as closely here, but Danny Sauvageau is out to change that. An avid fisherman and photographer who enjoys watching birds, he was intrigued to see the bands on photos of piping plovers. “I got four or five shots of birds with bands, and I had to wonder where these guys came from.”
As it turns out, a large percentage of the most-imperiled population from the Great Lakes breeding grounds are wintering near Tampa Bay – more than 40 birds of only about 140 in existence. Other piping plovers could be tracked back to summer nesting grounds in the Dakotas, Nebraska and New England.
“I set a goal of documenting 100 banded piping plovers — not just photographing them but recording the color combinations and their exact locations – and sent them to the scientists who had banded them,” Sauvageau said.
Scientists band birds so they can track their travels, but to be successful, someone needs to report re-sightings, he adds. About one-quarter of the piping plovers he sees are banded, a high percentage that reflects the importance of the birds to scientists in their summer breeding grounds, Wraithmell said.
Sauvageau met his goal last August, but still spends his days off photographing piping plovers, sharing images and updates on his website http://www.savingpipingplover.com/ because it’s critical to protect their winter habitat.
“All they’re doing here is eating and sleeping, getting ready to fly back to their breeding grounds later in the year,” he said. “Once you learn what habitat they like, it’s easier to find them.”
They’re regulars on Anclote Key and Three Rooker Bar — except on weekends when boaters converge on the islands. They also can be found in the sanctuary at Fort DeSoto but many have moved offshore to the sandbar that formed after Hurricane Debbie.
Many of the piping plovers will stay in Florida until late April or May, when it’s warm enough for them to breed, Wraithmell said. Some return as early as July, but researchers believe those are birds whose nests fail. “Their needs and habitat here aren’t as well-understood as at their summer nesting grounds, but they often spend more of the year here and we need to protect that habitat as well.”
[su_note note_color=”#4094ad” text_color=”#ffffff”]Reporting banded birds
Reporting banded birds is one of the most important activities for citizen-scientists, says Wraithmell. “It’s the only way we have to solve the mystery of migration – to learn where they stop and where they winter so we can protect that habitat too.”
Most photographers stumble upon their first banded birds accidentally because they don’t always see the bands until they review their images on a computer screen. After that, they’ll learn to watch for the bands even if they don’t get close enough to see them with their naked eye.
“There’s something very exciting about photographing banded birds, learning where they came from and following their travels if they’ve been seen and reported before,” Sauvageau said.
But capturing an image shouldn’t outweigh allowing the bird to rest or feed in peace, Wraithmell said. “One thing that’s really important is not disturbing the birds, whether they’re nesting or just resting,” she said. If nesting birds are disturbed, they fly off and leave their eggs or babies in broiling sun and defenseless against predators. Wintering birds need to rest and pack on the pounds before they fly back to their summer breeding grounds.
“Some birds, like piping plovers, actually spend more time here than they do nesting,” she said. “Their main job over the winter is eating and resting so they can nest successfully. And breeding is hard work – it takes a lot of energy to make an egg and then to feed and defend a chick until it’s old enough to take care of itself.”
For the scientists who band birds, “it’s like putting a message in a bottle and throwing it in the sea,” Wraithmell said. “Every resighting is valuable because we learn something new.”
Resighting can be reported online at [su_button url=”https://www.facebook.com/groups/534138593343790/?fref=nf+or+at+reportband.gov” target=”blank”]Florida Banded Bird Resightings Facebook Page[/su_button]
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