Snowy Plover Conservation in the Bay Area: Successes and Challenges in a Shifting Landscape

The Western Snowy Plover (Charadrius nivosus nivosus) is a federally threatened, ground-nesting shorebird species that breeds, roosts, and forages along the Pacific Coast from Southern Washington down to the tip of Baja California. While their typical habitat across the range is sandy beaches, within the San Francisco Bay, where up to 10% of the range-wide breeding population may be found, Snowy Plovers instead utilize salt panne habitat found within former salt production ponds. Snowy Plovers in the Bay Area face unique challenges to recovery compared to other parts of the range due to their habitat type and location within a large urbanized area. For close to 20 years, SFBBO has been working closely with federal, state, and local agencies to better understand these challenges and help Snowy Plovers meet regional recovery goals. This talk will focus on recent Snowy Plover conservation successes and challenges within the South Bay, especially within Alameda County, which annually holds the majority of Snowy Plover breeding in the Bay Area.

Ben Pearl is a science director at SFBBO who specializes in Snowy Plover and Least Tern research and conservation. Ben grew up in San Luis Obispo, where he attained an early love for nature exploring the nearby tide pools and oak forests. He completed his B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at U.C. Santa Cruz, and first came to SFBBO while beginning his Masters at San Jose State University. For his Master’s thesis, he examined how various factors affect plover foraging habitat selection during the winter in the South San Francisco Bay.

Please register – the Zoom link will be sent in the confirmation. If you have any questions, please contact Sirena Lao, Environmental Education and Outreach Specialist, at .

This program is possible thanks to SFBBO donors with additional support from Cargill. To help keep these events going, we hope you’ll consider making a suggested donation of $5 or more if you can. Your tax-deductible donation helps us make these events available to the public and engage broad audiences with birds, nature, science, and conservation. You may donate in increments of $5 below, click here to donate a different amount, or contact us for other ways to donate.