Thursday, 4:30 PM
Death of plovers being probed
By Claire Cummings, Globe Correspondent
SANDWICH -- Each June, the Massachusetts Audubon Society’s Coastal Waterbird Program walks the roughly one-mile stretch of Town Neck beach to survey the local piping plover population.
This year, they made an unusual discovery: three dead chicks, who had been just a few days old.
Rebecca Harris, director of the waterbird program, said the cause of death was unknown and necropsy results are pending.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating.
"Chances are we wouldn’t have found the dead birds if we weren’t out here doing that" survey, Harris said. "Usually they’re eaten by predators or quickly scavenged."
At a few days old, chicks are vulnerable, and their deaths are not uncommon, but officials said they want to make sure there was no human involvement in the deaths of the federally protected birds.
Harris said she expects the results of the necropsies within a week.
Massachusetts is home to nearly 15 percent of the world’s piping plover population, according to the state Fisheries & Wildlife Division.
Vehicles are prohibited on Town Neck, a combination of beach, dunes, and marshes.
Wooden stakes wrapped in orange cord protect the plovers' nesting area from beachgoers. Small yellow signs warn that the area is off-limits.
"If we don’t protect them, who’s going to?" said Madeline Kaskan, 60, of Holden as she took a break from reading under an umbrella.
