Coal Oil Point Reserve

Sands beach at Coal Oil Point Reserve (COPR) has a wintering and a breeding population of the Western Snowy Plover. The beach is open to the public all year, but a portion of the dry sandy beach, which is the plover habitat, has been protected since Spring 2001. The population of wintering plovers increased and a growing breeding population has been established. Although Sands beach is relatively small, it has the largest population of wintering plovers in US. We believe that the high abundance of kelp wrack all year provides abundant food and contributes to the high quality habitat for plovers.

Lafferty et al (2005) show the positive effects of beach management on the numbers of plovers at COPR. This report provides additional detailed information about the breeding population of plovers on Sands beach.