Only 1 of 50 Snowy Plover Chicks Survives
Only one of 50 snowy plover chicks hatched this year at Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Park has survived long enough to leave the nest, according to an ornithologist monitoring the threatened birds.
Almost all of the other chicks probably were eaten by another bird, the loggerhead shrike, Laird Henkel of the Point Reyes Bird Observatory told the Tribune of San Luis Obispo.
And four of the chicks died from abandonment or exposure, said Laura Gardner, an associate state park resource ecologist.
Plover populations are plummeting statewide and at the 3,500-acre park.
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