I am glad to hear that you chose such an important topic. Nobody really knows how many plovers we had before they became endangered. We know that there were several thousands and that they were one of the most common birds on the beach. Presently we have about 2,000.

California and particularly the Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties are the areas with most of the plovers today. Managers of state parks, federal lands, and county parks are erecting symbolic fences to protect the Snowy Plovers from people walking on the beach, who could inadvertently step on their eggs. They also have docent programs to educate people about the need to protect these birds.

You are welcome to visit our plover population at Coal Oil Point Reserve. This is a UCSB reserve dedicated to research and education. Right now you can see nests and chicks at the beach and in our nursery (where we raise abandoned eggs). Our website has a lot of information about our program. Under the snowy plover program page, you will see a calendar that has dates for training of future docents. Even if you don't want to be a docent, you can attend the lecture and tour at the next training date and learn a lot about plovers.

Good luck with your report.