Part of Gordons Pond in Cape Henlopen State Park will close to protect the first pair of piping plovers that have nested there in seven years.
800 feet of beach at Gordons Pond will close Monday to protect the nest and any chicks it produces.
DNREC has already installed fencing around the piping plover nest, extending to the high water mark on a portion of Cape Henlopen’s ocean beach while symbolic fencing – cautionary signage on fence posts tied off by twine – will be another deterrent to entering the nesting area in the dune, which is prohibited at all times.
Piping plovers have been listed under the Endangered Species Act since 1986, but DNREC Avian Conservation Program manager Sam Robinson says the population in Delaware is slowly increasing. In 2016 there were just five or six pairs in Delaware, but now those numbers are estimated in the 30’s.
She adds that Gordons Pond is a great place for the plovers to be.
“In this spot where they are, we were back there the other day, there’s a pretty large expanse of area back there that’s moist which will have lots of bugs and worms in it,” Robinson says.
Robinson advises beach-goers to keep dogs leashed and avoid the dunes and other nesting areas that are already closed off, including The Point, which has closed annually since 1993 for the benefit of threatened and endangered beach-nesting and migratory shorebirds.
“This is also really exciting," Robinson says. "We started banding the birds with unique color combinations in 2021, so we know that both of the adults associated with this nest at Gordons Pond are chicks that hatched in Delaware last year at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge.”
She notes that while closing part of Gordons Pond may be an inconvenience to beach goers, this is a good sign that piping plovers are recognizing quality habitats, pointing to a recovering species.
