THE POINT IS CLOSED!!!

[derf]

*** NEWS RELEASE ***

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
OUTER BANKS GROUP
Cape Hatteras National Seashore
Fort Raleigh National Historic Site
Wright Brothers National Memorial

For Immediate Release: For Information Contact:
Mary H. Doll
July 14, 2005
(252) 473-2111 ext. 154

Cape Point Temporarily Closed to Visitor Use for
Plover Chick Protection

Cape Point, a popular recreational area at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, will be temporarily closed to all visitor use starting
Thursday July 14, 2005. The eight-day old piping plover chicks, which
hatched from a nest on the South Beach last week, have moved to Cape Point foraging for food. The current foraging site is immediately adjacent to the Cape Point visitor and off-road vehicle use area.
The temporary closure will remain in effect until the chicks locate to another foraging area. All vehicle and pedestrian use will be prohibited during the closure. The temporary closure area will start approximately .4 miles south of Ramp 44.
"The plover chicks continue to be extremely mobile in their efforts to find food. The current feeding location necessitates that we take this temporary measure" stated Mark Hardgrove, Acting Superintendent Outer Banks Group. "We are monitoring the location of the chicks during all daylight hours. The beach will be reopened to visitor use as soon as possible."
The piping plover is listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The ESA prohibits harassing, harming, pursuing, hunting, shooting, wounding, killing, trapping, capturing, or collecting federally protected species. Penalties for violation of the ESA for threatened species include a fine of up to $25,000, imprisonment for not more than six months, or both.
Plover chicks are typically mobile within 24 hours of hatch.
Once mobile, the chicks will leave the nest and move extensively along the beach, intertidal zone, and mudflats to feed with their parents. Plover chicks have been documented to move hundreds of yards from the nest site during their first week of life.
Cape Hatteras National Seashore statistics document that piping plover chick fledging has declined from a high of twelve chicks fledged out of 20 hatched in 1998. Last year, no chicks fledged, out of four eggs hatched. Numbers of breeding pairs of piping plover and nests have also declined.


ABOUT PIPING PLOVERS
Piping plovers are small, sand-colored shorebirds that nest on sandy, coastal beaches from South Carolina to Newfoundland. Since 1986, the Atlantic Coast population has been protected as a threatened species under provisions of the ESA.
Piping plover lay their eggs in nests situated above the high tide line on coastal beaches, sand flats at the end of sandspits and barrier islands, gently sloping foredunes, blowout areas behind primary dunes, and washover areas cut into or between dunes. Nest sites are shallow scraped depressions in the sand.
Feeding activities of chicks may be particularly important to their survival. Piping plover chicks typically triple their weight during the first two weeks post-hatching. Feeding activities of both adults and chicks occur during all hours of the day and night and at all stages of the tidal cycle.
Plover foods consist of invertebrates such as marine worms, fly larvae, beetles, crustaceans, or mollusks. Feeding areas include intertidal portions of ocean beaches, washover areas, mudflats, sandflats, wrack lines and shorelines of coastal ponds, lagoons, or salt marshes.
Typical behavior of piping plover chicks increases their vulnerability to vehicles. Chicks frequently move between the upper berm or foredune and feeding habitats in the wrack line, intertidal zone, and mud flats. These movements place chicks in the paths of off- road vehicles driving along the berm or through the intertidal zone.
Plover chicks will stand in, walk, and run along tire ruts, and sometimes have difficulty crossing deep ruts or climbing out of them.
Chicks, using defensive behavior, will sometime stand motionless or crouch in tire tracks as vehicles approach. The small chicks may not be able to move quickly enough to get out of the way.
Predatory threats to piping plover include red fox, feral cats, dogs, gulls, raccoons, and crows. These predator species will feed on both plover eggs and chicks.
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National Park Service
Outer Banks Group
1401 National Park Road
Manteo, NC 27954