The Snowy Plover is a small, sand-colored shorebird that searches open beaches and salt-lake shores for prey. It makes a well-hidden nest on sandy beaches.
Its back is pale sand-colored, its belly is white, and its bill is short and black. The broken collar on its breast may be black or brown.
The Pacific Coast subspecies of Snowy Plover nests at sites such as Hayward Regional Shoreline on San Francisco Bay, California. From 2008 to 2021, Riensche and Elliot compared 56 nests on Island Five with 56 randomly selected non-nest sites. They measured the amount of sand, the number of oyster shells, and shell surface area around each location.
Nest sites had greater oyster-shell measurements than their paired random sites. The difference in shell measures between a nest and its paired site was positively related to hatching success and the number of fledglings. The authors suggest that shells may help camouflage eggs and chicks, while noting that any shell enhancement should be based on local habitat data.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Among 56 Hayward nests, larger differences in oyster-shell measures between nests and paired non-nest sites were associated with greater hatching success and more fledglings. The authors say shell enhancement should be considered when local habitat data are available.