Long Island Shorebird Breeding Season 2012 The Long Island Bird Conservation Program (LIBCP) recently finished its 6th season of beach-nesting bird monitoring on Long Island.  The LIBCP has grown over the past six years and for the second year in a row we monitored 6 sites across Long Island’s North Shore.  Additionally, our Long Island Bird Conservation Coordinator had a helping hand this year from a talented and dedicated field technician that helped monitor and protect our priority beach-nesting bird species. LIBCP staff monitored nesting sites from early April through the end of August to locate beach-nesting birds and their nests, protect nesting areas, and track the reproductive success of these imperiled species.  This season, across the 6 sites, LIBCP staff located 10 pairs of Piping Plovers, 3 Pairs of American Oystercatchers, and around 30 pairs of Least Terns. We are happy to announce that 7 Piping Plover chicks and 1 American Oystercatcher chick fledged this season – giving us hope for the future.  Due in part to the help of our extra staff, hatching rates and fledging rates were greater than in 2011 and we hope to continue to see increased numbers in future seasons. Here are some pictures from our 2012 beach-nesting bird breeding season: