Snowy Plover Update, Ocean Beach Edition
A western snowy plover chills out secure in the knowledge its protection area at Ocean Beach isn't going away anytime soon.
We saw these kinds of birds already at Crissy Field but we wanted to check things out at the other protection area in S.F. at Ocean Beach. The S.F. Commission of Animal Control and Welfare recently considered the issue of taking this land back from control of the federal government under pressure from some people who've been ticketed for ignoring the leash laws at Ocean Beach. It's all ably explained by the Examiner here. The commission recently decided to recommend keeping things the way they are for now. That means that you can't walk your dog off-leash on part of Ocean Beach for part of the year. Our impressions and a few photos after the jump.
We spoke with a friendly park ranger (armed for your protection) at Ocean Beach a few weekends ago. He gives warnings and/or citations to people who walk their dogs off-leash in the protection area. The ranger indicated that most people respect the rules.
Click on the shot here to see a larger photo.
Hungry like the wolf: If you're some mud bug on the beach, this is the last thing you'll see coming at you.
Score. One less tiny crustacean on the beach.
Our best guess is that this one is called BC:OY, for its blue, cyan, orange, and yellow leg bands.
Most of the unleashed dogs never notice the plovers.
Fido shows how its done. These birds aren't plovers but this dog's owner still risks getting cited since this is the on-leash area.
A typical scene at Ocean Beach: An off-leash dog flushing a flock of birds inside the protection area. Too much of this behavior threatens the plovers. S.F. has only about 50 left but it's breeding season so hopefully more are on their way.
