At the beginning of the nesting season, predation to the bird colony was low. I was beginning to think that no coyotes were currently living on the island. There were many more nests and successful hatchings than what had been recorded in past years. Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, coyote tracks started to appear and bird nests began rapidly disappearing. The first coyote nest predation event occurred on July 3rd, which resulted in a 70% loss of active nests from the Bear Inlet colony. Since July 3rd, the predation has continued and less birds have re-nested on the island. Sadly, aside from coyote predation, I found that two of my nests were lost to human foot traffic. It is very important to not cut through the bird nesting areas because the nests blend in and are easy to step on.
Although there was heavy predation starting in July, overall this has still been a successful year. As of now, there have been 39 recorded chicks and the season is still continuing. In 2018, the last season there was a shorebird intern, there were only 5 chicks recorded for the entirety of the season. I’ve attached photos of some recent chicks.
Hammocks Beach Interns 