[Maine-birds] Re: Scarborough Beach

Hi Bruce,

Thank you for your thoughts. It has been a long, bumpy road for all parties.

Maine Audubon, Maine Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, and USFWS have been working with the town to try to come up with a solution that works for people, pets, and wildlife. The ad-hoc committee that has been hashing out rules to propose to the Council actually included an ornithologist professor and a biologist- both of whom own and love dogs. 

Although leashing dogs only when a plover nest is found keeps chicks safe, it still is harmful for the birds to have off-leash dogs in the spring.  Plovers arrive on the beaches here in March-May and seek for a place to nest. Sometimes, it will be over a month before the bird finds a good beach, a mate, and a suitable nest site. By having dogs off-leash on beaches in April and May, we are reducing the quality of some excellent potential nesting spots. Plovers scoping from beach to beach stop by Higgins, Pine Point, and Western/Ferry in the early season. They may linger as they try to identify mates and where to stay, but off-leash dogs can drive them away even though it would otherwise be a good site. With much of our beaches no longer suitable for nesting plovers thanks to seawalls and development, every stretch of sandy beach is essential to the recovery of Maine's plover population.

If you want to know more about our 44 nesting pair of plovers or our program, feel free to ask!

Thanks and happy birding.

Best,

Laura

On Thursday, February 20, 2014 8:56:01 AM UTC-5, BAB wrote:

Hi,

I'm certain most birders are aware of the stew over dogs on Scarborough Beach.  I'm displeased with the proposed "rules" for unleashed dogs during the summer, which allow unleashed canines on the beach before 9am and after 5pm.  This is fine for protecting beach goers with children and those who dislike being mugged by Labrador retrievers when swimming.  However, it won't protect piping plover chicks.  Too, the initial proposal by the town council was so draconian I'm not surprised it was voted down by all and sundry.

To protect the plovers and also to protect the public's perception of environmentalists, I'd like to propose to the Scarborough council that dogs be leashed at all times ONLY when there is a verifiable plover nest, and perhaps a few weeks after the chicks hatch.  Certainly there must be a few birders in the area that could act as beach inspectors during the summer, and perhaps we could ask Maine Audubon or the State's department of Fish and Wildlife to support this practice.  These might even help negotiate with the town council and put up wire protectors against cats and raccoons for the eggs, if any are present.

It's important to present environmentalists as logical and cooperative, and important to protect plover chicks.  Of course, it's not politically correct nowadays to present anything approaching a logical solution to a problem, but we could give it a try anyway.

What do you think?  Are there representatives of environmental groups that read this list and that would be willing to approach their organizations about this issue?  Is there an ornithologist teaching near Portland that could help?

BAB

--
Bruce Bartrug
Nobleboro, Maine, USA
bbar...@gmail.com
www.brucebartrug.com

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.  - Albert Einstein

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