After 25 years of teaching, retiree Renee Racine was looking to combine her love of birds with her passion for education. She found an opportunity to meld both interests through the Sharing Our Shores program at Buena Vista Audubon, teaching children about Snowy Plovers and generating greater visibility and protection for these charismatic little birds. Through the mentorship of San Diego Audubon, Renee, along with other Buena Vista chapter members successfully implemented this new program in two classrooms in Oceanside.

The main challenge for the group was getting the program off the ground. “It worked because we had the support of San Diego Audubon,” says Renee. Audubon California provided funding to expand the Sharing Our Shores program through a partnership between San Diego Audubon and Buena Vista Audubon. Staff from San Diego Audubon provided lesson plans, materials, training, and logistical assistance to volunteers from Buena Vista Audubon.

Together, the chapters visited two classes at Foussat Elementary School in May to educate students about Snowy Plovers and the threats to their survival. Students learned that the birds need a spot on the beach where they can nest and raise their young without being bothered by people.

Following the class session, students created posters with messages designed to help people understand that the plovers need a private, protected space during the nesting season. California State Parks rangers and California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists created signs with the students' designs. They will be placed on posts and fences next to plover nest sites at Ponto State Beach and Batiquitos Lagoon in Carlsbad. Resource agency officials who manage plover habitat note that the public responds positively to the student posters.        

Buena Vista trip leader Andy Mauro with students from Foussat Elementary

The student program culminated with an early-morning field trip to Ponto Beach, where they observed shorebirds and evaluated the area based on their new knowledge of the habitat requirements of Snowy Plovers. At one point, the students and guides observed Brown Pelicans flying overhead. Andy Mauro, a leader from Buena Vista Audubon said, "These birds used to be endangered, but people like you saved them and now they are no longer endangered." There was a pause as the kids let that sink in. Then one said, "And we are going to save the Snowy Plover."

The Foussat Elementary School teachers want to participate again next year and Buena Vista Audubon plans to expand the program to include other schools and additional plover nesting sites in the future.

Renee recommends that other chapters develop similar programs, “It was the best. Sharing Our Shores is a wonderful, fabulous program. Volunteers might think it is a lot of work but it is so easy, the materials are ready and user friendly."

For more information on how to start a Sharing Our Shores program with your chapter, please contact Ariana Rickard, Coastal Chapter Network Manager at 415-644-4602. Please consider donating to Audubon California to fund Sharing Our Shores and other local chapter programs that protect the Western Snowy Plover.

Photos by Bruce Montgomery, Natalie Shapiro and Chris Redfern