Y
YOU FOUND THETHE SHOREKEEPER
In the Shorekeeper’s world, Ocean Beach looks nothing like what you see here today. As the sea levels rose, their habitats – once beautiful beaches and vibrant wetlands – were compressed into tiny, narrow strips of land. For over a century, people treated those habitats like playgrounds for themselves instead of homes for their non-human neighbors, until there was nothing left.
Scientists were desperate to build back the local ecosystems, so they attempted to recreate the snowy plover with a special ability to better warn people before accidentally crushing their homes buried in the sand. It worked, sort of. The feathers shimmer and shake when their homes are at risk, which is fun, but doesn’t seem to do much to ward off their home’s biggest enemies – the playful pups. It projected itself here to help us explore ways to live more intentionally and harmoniously with all living things, so that our Ocean Beach doesn’t end up like theirs.
What kinds of culture and design could we build to allow humans and wildlife to share the same spaces?
FIELD NOTES
How you Can Help the Shorekeeper’s Mission
Snowy plovers are currently listed as “threatened”, which means they need our attention for their populations to stay healthy. They’re also what we call an “indicator species”, which means how well they’re doing is a good signal for how well many other parts of their ecosystem are doing too.
Today’s snowy plovers nest directly on open beaches, coastal dunes and in the Bay Area, salt ponds, relying on camouflage and wide, undisturbed stretches of shoreline to successfully raise their chicks. Their greatest threat is not necessarily pollution or hunting, it is simply how people use shared space.
Keep your dogs on leash in sensitive habitats.
Take it a step further and help your doggy steward the beaches and protect our feathered friends by becoming a Ventura Audubon Dog Ranger.
Give wildlife space.
instead of approaching nests or animals.
Keep an eye out for seasonal nesting closures.
Keep beaches clean.
Tread lightly. Stay on designated trails and boardwalks.
Watch Western snowy plovers at Ocean Beach
in this short film by Danny Roberts.
Participate in community science monitoring programs
like San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory to help track banded Western Snowy Plovers.
Learn how snowy plovers are monitored
with the National Park Service in the Bay Area.
Learn about local research
being done on other Bay Area birds at the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory.
Volunteer with the San Francisco Bird Observatory
to help protect and track the birds that call our shore home!
Thank you to our contributing experts at the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory for resources and insights.
NEXT UP
SCOUTING SPOT #2Near the shrines to the arts your butter-bee waits,
In a name that started it all,
The grassy grounds fit for stages and dates,
With flowers amidst concrete sprawl.
✦ Enter the destination as three words, all lowercase, no spaces. ✦