Efforts Continue to Protect Shorebirds Around Dead Neck/Sampson’s Island

Three BaysCENTERVILLE – Three Bays Preservation and Mass Audubon co-manage Dead Neck/Sampson’s Island in order to preserve the fragile environment and protect the birds that nest there.

Mass Audubon produces an annual Coastal Waterbird Program Field Summary, and the 2015 report brings both good and bad news.

The good news is that eight pairs of Piping Plovers nested in 2015, an increase of 14 percent over the previous year.

Only six plovers fledged, however, attributed mainly to crow predation, which is a decrease of 0.75 chicks/per pair versus 1.3 chicks per pair.

Due to lack of suitable habitat, there were no pairs of Least Terns, Common Terns, and American Oystercatchers.

The last time DNSI was restored with sand from the Cotuit Channel in 2009, the birds returned in droves, according to Three Bays Preservation Program Manager Judy Heller.

Three Bays Preservation is made up of a group of residents who came together in 1996 to address pollution problems in Cotuit, North and West Bays, as well as the rapid erosion of barrier beaches of Dead Neck/Sampson’s Island.

For 20 years, more than 1,000 people have joined the Preservation’s efforts, growing the small group to a major organization who dedicate their time to the preservation of the aquatic environment.

 

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