A piping plover chick with parent on the Two Mile Beach Unit of Cape May NWR. The birds are on the only closed stretch of beach for 40 miles.

For the first time in the history of the Cape May National Wildlife Refuge, a pair of nesting piping plovers, a federally listed threatened species, have successfully fledged a chick.  The event occurred at the refuge's  Two Mile Beach Unit. 

As in past years, a pair of piping plovers nested on land adjacent to the refuge that is occupied by the U.S. Coast Guard Loran Support Unit.  The Coast Guard beach is open to the public and some recreation takes place there, so the refuge staff worked with New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife personnel to fence off and monitor the nest.  Soon after two chicks hatched, the family quickly walked just under one mile to the closed refuge beach, where human disturbance is much lower.  Unfortunately, one of the chicks perished after a few weeks but the other chick survived.

At this time, the refuge beach is not attractive to nesting plovers because it does not provide good foraging for the birds. However, refuge biologists are working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to create a beach overwash area this fall.  The new construction will greatly enhance the site's appeal to the birds.

This summer, New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife personnel also installed a pond to provide a plover foraging area away from the intertidal zone on the refuge.

Through the continued support of the refuge's partners, biologists have high hope that the site will improve and attract greater numbers of breeding plovers in the future.