Plover Patrol

Today we were out on Plover Patrol, our volunteer position with Oregon State Parks this summer to survey for Western Snowy Plover.  Our area to patrol is the beach at Nehalem Bay State Park where we walk a two mile stretch from the Day Use Area parking lot south to the end of Nehalem Spit. It was a pleasant sunny morning but rather devoid of birds. We did see lots of American Crows and Western Gulls, plus a lone Bald Eagle and a couple of Turkey Vultures, all of which could be considered a threat to any nesting plovers.  Our main mission was to see if we could find any Western Snowy Plovers.  We looked long and hard but did not find any plovers.  At one point we got excited about some plover-like tracks, but in the end they led to a pair of nesting Killdeer. We will be doing this once a month for the rest of the summer. The good part for us, aside from providing a service, is that it forces us to focus on spending a few days at the coast.