The Bahamas Blog – Trip 1, Day 6

By Todd Pover, Beach Nesting Bird Project Manager and Stephanie Egger, Wildlife Biologist

Piping Plovers on exposed limestone shore in the Bahamas.

Today was a down day from a field research perspective, a chance to recharge. That said, our minds were still working – we are already thinking about what’s next for the project and planning our return trip early next year.

As we knew coming in, and now we both know firsthand, logistics are the toughest part of piping plover research here in the Bahamas. With hundreds of islands, cays, flats, and miles of shoreline to survey, many of them inaccessible, just getting to some of the sites is half the battle. Throw in unfavorable weather issues (i.e. wind and rain), a van or boat that doesn’t start, a survey that takes much longer to complete than anticipated…and well you get the picture.

And as we previously mentioned, piping plovers use different types of habitat here in the Bahamas and it is highly tide dependent – it is critical to be at the tidal flats at low tide, otherwise there are no flats or birds to see. Likewise, you need to be at roost locations at mid or high tide or all you’ll see are tracks in the sand to tease you. (more…)