Winter ecology of piping plovers at Oregon Inlet
Background and Rationale
The breeding ecology of piping plovers has been studied in detail. Comparatively less work has been done on wintering habitats where beach management can have substantial impacts on foraging and roosting habitats.
Project People
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Jim Fraser Sarah Karpanty Dan Catlin Richard Fischer
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Project Photos
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Project Findings
Cohen, Karpanty, Catlin, Fraser and Fischer 2008
- Plovers used a 20.1 km2 area (100% minimum convex polygon home range) containing narrow barrier islands with ocean and sound-side beaches, and small shoals, dredged-material islands, and marsh islands in shallow-water sounds.
- Plover activity was concentrated in twelve areas totaling 2.2 km2 (95% fixed kernel home range).
- When plovers were on ocean beaches, they spent less time foraging (18%) than when on Sound Island beaches (88%) and islands (83%, P = 0.003).
- Sound island use increased and beach use decreased as the tide dropped (Logistic regression, P < 0.001).
- Plover use of dredged-material islands implied that habitat managers can create or restore attractive foraging sites where habitat may be declining or limiting.
- Wintering habitat management should aim to provide foraging opportunities during most of the day and across a range of tide conditions and ensure that foraging habitat is close to roost sites.
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