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July 26, 2019 @ 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Educational Snowy Plover Walk: Clatsop Spit
Join Bird Alliance of Oregon Staff Scientist Joe Liebezeit and learn about the endangered Snowy Plover as well as its life history, conservation challenges, and habitat preferences. There will be good opportunities to view plovers and other birds at Clatsop Spit.
Walks last 2-3 hours and involve hiking on uneven, sandy terrain. We will have a scope but please consider bringing your own binoculars.
First 4 people from Portland to RSVP will be able to catch a ride to and from the site with the trip co-leader Joe Liebezeit.
We will notify attendees on a meeting place in advance of the event.
Why the Snowy Plover?
The Pacific coast population of Western Snowy Plovers has been in decline for several decades due to loss of habitat and disturbances from development, recreation, and other human pressures. In Oregon, the population hit a low of about 50 individuals in the early 1990s. Subsequently this species was listed as threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act in 1993.
Due to targeted recovery efforts in Oregon, mostly focused on the south and central coast, the bird has bounced back to a few hundred individuals although still a small, vulnerable population. Snowy Plovers are still largely absent at most traditional north coast nesting sites.
Getting the community involved in monitoring Plovers on the north coast will help Oregon Parks and Bird Alliance of Oregon track where Plovers are and how they are doing as other management occurs (e.g. habitat restoration) and offers an opportunity to engage the public to help protect this small bird.
