40 Piping Plovers nested and 38 babies fledged at Milford Point in 2025. No beach in Connecticut has had more in at least four decades.

The 38 chicks that fledged at Milford Point during the 2025 season were the highest number of fledglings from one beach in Connecticut since the species was listed as threatened 40 years ago. Photo by Johann Heupel.

By Johann Heupel
December 18, 2025—The sandspit at the Coastal Center at Milford Point has long hosted a thriving nesting population of Piping Plovers. But as productive as it has been in the past, this year was even better.

A record number of Piping Plover chicks fledged there in 2025. In fact, more Piping Plovers hatched there — 38 — than on any beach anywhere in Connecticut in the four decades that records have been kept.

Piping Plovers are small, sandy-gray shorebirds considered threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Formerly abundant along the coast, these birds lay pale cream-colored eggs on sandy, sparsely vegetated beaches; over the decades, they’ve been forced into smaller areas by the thousands of people who visit beaches to relax. 

The efforts of conservation organizations along the Atlantic Coast in the years since Piping Plovers were listed as threatened in the 1980s have increased the population by nearly 60 percent, to over 8,000 adult birds today. The work that shorebird biologists do is vital to the Piping Plover’s recovery, including at Milford Point.

There were 21 pairs of adult Piping Plovers at Milford Point in 2025. They successfully reared 38 chicks. No beach in Connecticut has had more in the 40 years that records have been kept.

With my colleague Matthew Joyce, I’ve been privileged to spend each of the past several summers monitoring and protecting the beach-nesting birds at Milford Point. The plovers’ success would not have been possible without the support of Connecticut Audubon’s members.

Your donations helped achieve a success rate of 1.8 fledglings per nesting pair in 2025, surpassing the 1.5 chicks per pair that conservation scientists aim for to help the population recover. The 21 pairs at Milford Point account for a quarter of the nesting population in Connecticut. 

Matt and I worked full-time to watch over these tiny birds seven days a week from April through September, monitoring their nesting and chick-rearing success, and educating as many people as we could about the plovers’ plight. Piping Plovers are vulnerable to several major threats – ranging from ruthless predators to people simply out for a walk.

Your commitment to supporting the work that protects them, and the ongoing support and oversight of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, is making a real difference in their success.

The beaches that Piping Plovers rely on for nesting are sensitive to sea level rise, with a predicted loss of 60 percent in their native range possible in the coming years. Surges from high tides and storms often flood their nests, killing chicks or destroying eggs, including five nests at Milford in 2024 (Piping Plovers sometimes attempt to nest more than once if unsuccessful).

Although predation by foxes and crows is natural in a healthy ecosystem, it can hinder the chances of population recovery in areas where nesting sites are limited. We take measures to minimize their impact. We erect “exclosures” over their completed nests — wire screens that prevent predators from reaching unhatched eggs while allowing the adult plovers to incubate them. We also “haze” persistent predators from the area if necessary.

Despite this, the chicks remain easy prey. They leave the nest quickly after hatching and instinctively freeze to camouflage themselves when threatened, leaving them exposed to hungry predators and hurried beachgoers.

The environment can be merciless, and the only factor in our control is our own behavior — the way we use these habitats for recreation and how attentive we are to our surroundings. Neither dogs nor vehicles are permitted at Milford Point for the safety of the birds. To terrified shorebirds, dogs smell nearly identical to foxes and coyotes, and even well-behaved pets instinctually chase small animals. Vehicles — golf carts or bicycles, for example — crush eggs and chicks hidden in the sand. 

Even peaceful beach-goers with umbrellas and towels that come to swim or sunbathe interrupt plovers foraging along the water’s edge, sending them fleeing. Maintaining beaches free from these disturbances is the only way to ensure these birds can survive.

Shorebird biologists engage with hundreds of visitors each year through informative signs, bird walks, and pamphlets that explain the importance of giving these birds space during the summer. With growing space on the sandbar for more nesting pairs and skyrocketing numbers of chicks, it seems clear that your support and the time and attention of full-time staff is working—and we hope it continues for many years to come.
— Johann Heupel is a coastal monitor for Connecticut Audubon. He has teamed with Matt Joyce to protect birds at Milford Point for the last three nesting seasons. Matthew Joyce is now conservation science and Coastal Center manager at Milford Point.

This table, produced by the CT DEEP, shows the Piping Plover numbers from across the state in 2025.