Western Snowy Plovers in a Changing World by Maddy Schwarz

The Western Snowy Plover is a threatened shorebird that breeds along the west coast of the U.S. Because of this status, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has set goals to restore plover numbers throughout the region. In addition, the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project has established goals to increase plover numbers in the Bay Area. For more than 20 years, SFBBO has worked with both of these efforts to study and conserve local plovers.

In her talk, Maddy will introduce the Western Snowy Plover, its ecology and life history, and the threats facing plovers in the Bay Area and beyond. She will then dive into information on how local plovers fared during the 2024 breeding season, which areas were the most successful, and some of the most interesting things that happened during the season. Finally, with the context of the most recent season in mind, she will zoom back out and discuss different management strategies proposed that SFBBO and our project partners use to mitigate those threats and support our local plover population.

Maddy Schwarz is a science director at SFBBO who specializes in plover and tern research and conservation. She graduated from UC Davis in 2017 with a Bachelor’s in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology. Maddy began working with SFBBO in 2018 on the plover team, then began volunteering at SFBBO’s Coyote Creek Field Station. Maddy has also worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and multiple environmental consulting companies in the Bay Area.

This event is part of SFBBO's Birdy Hour Speaker Series. Learn more at https://www.sfbbo.org/birdy. Thank you to SFBBO donors for making this free event possible and to Karen Nguyen for editing the recording. If you'd like to donate to support our work, please go to https://www.sfbbo.org/give.

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The San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory is a nonprofit in Milpitas, CA, with the mission to promote sustainability in the Bay Area and beyond by engaging communities in avian science, habitat conservation, and education.