Plover lover? Train to be a docent

There will be training in February and March for volunteer docents and visitor center volunteers to work at Half Moon Bay State Beach with the endangered Snowy Plovers. HMB State Beach is in the process of being designated as critical habitat for the plovers.

There are currently about 20 visitor center volunteers or more and over 60 plover docents.

One of the special activities of the plover docents is to watch for new nests during the breeding season, Apr. 1 through Aug. 31 each year. When nests are found, they erect a fenced ‘exclosure’ around the nest to exclude predators, primarily ravens. They try to do this within hours of finding the nests which requires having docents who are local and can come out to the beach on a few hours’ notice.

There will be training for both the plover docents and the visitor center volunteers coming up in Feb and March. Contact Ranger Nelle for info on the plover docents and Ranger Rose for info on visitor center training at: 726-8819 or 726-8804.