Snowy Plovers have a long history in Santa Barbara County. Areas on the north coast and south coast are now protected during nesting season for the Plovers. According to Paul Lehman in his book “The Birds of Santa Barbara County, California”, Snowy Plovers nested in substantial numbers in the Santa Barbara area during the 1910-11 season, though numbers declined by 1923. He also states that between 1909 and 1947 27 egg sets were collected from Carpinteria beaches. The last known Carpinteria nesting took place in 1960, although in May-June of 2013 an adult with 2 chicks were found in Carpinteria. Join us as we learn of this year’s Snowy Plover nest in Carpinteria, the first since 1960, as documented by John Callender.
Program Description
The Pacific coast population of the Western Snowy Slover is a federally listed threatened species. One of the major threats to the plovers is disturbance of their sandy beach breeding habitat due to human use of that habitat. In southern California especially, heavy public use of the beach during the birds’ March through September breeding period has led to many historic nesting sites being abandoned. Although Snowy Plovers previously bred at Carpinteria State Beach, the birds had not done so since 1960. In this talk John will share the story of the successful nesting by Snowy Plovers in Carpinteria in 2021, including photos and videos of the birds and a discussion of the human efforts that helped them succeed.
Presented by John Callender
John Callender is a computer programmer who lives in Carpinteria. He has been a birdwatcher since childhood, and in recent years has focused mostly on Santa Barbara County birding. He is the founder of Carpinteria Birdwatchers, the current organizer of the Carpinteria Christmas Bird Count, and the program chair of the upcoming Carpinteria Living Shoreline Festival.
Presentation will be via Zoom
Meeting ID: 838 4240 7049
Passcode: 129210
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