SHOREBIRD STEWARDSHIP & MONITORING

North Fork Audubon Society (NFAS) is monitoring endangered and threatened shorebirds on behalf of Southold Town in 2023 and 2024, and in 2021 and 2022. Shorebird monitoring involves visits several times a week to approximately 18 beaches across the North Fork where Endangered Piping Plovers and Threatened Least Terns and Common Terns build nests and incubate eggs right on the beach. We fence off nest areas with string fencing to discourage people from walking through and accidentally stepping on nests and eggs. It is also important for people to keep their dogs leashed, since even friendly dogs will scare the parent birds off the nest, leaving the eggs to get chilled and perhaps die. Jennifer Murray, NFAS Shorebird Manager, is assisted by 18 volunteer stewards who record data from their site visits, which gets compiled for Southold Town, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and ultimately for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

For decades, both North Fork Audubon and Group for the East End have been involved in shorebird monitoring and community education. This year, both groups will be conducting outreach to children and adults at beaches, schools and elsewhere to raise awareness of the need to “share the shore” with the birds.


Resources for Volunteers

Can you help? Please email  shorebirdmanager@northforkaudubon.org

Daily Site Visits Form

Be a Good Egg Pledge Sheet

Upcoming Training for the 2024 season!

We will be holding 2 Shorebird Monitoring Training Sessions held at Breakwater Beach in Mattituck from 9-11am. After the training there will be beach cleanups, please stay if you can!

Register the session, by clicking the date below:

Photos by J. Murray

Information and Resources

Written materials

  • 2023 DEC Daily Site Visit form

  • “US Fish & Wildlife Service 2018 booklet “Long Island Steward Training Manual for Threatened and Endangered Species”, 115 pages.  Read or download HERE. Recommended reading:

    • Pages 9-17, “Your Role as a Steward”, monitoring techniques

    • Pages 32-47, fact sheets on Piping Plovers and Least Terns

    • Pages 71-84, useful photos of Piping Plovers and Least Terns at various ages from chick to adults

Videos