Snowy Plovers Select Open Habitats for Courtship Scrapes and Nests

The population decline of the Western Snowy Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus) along the Pacific coast of the U.S., has been attributed, in part, to the spread of European beachgrass (Ammophila arenaria), which degrades nesting habitats. We compared Ammophila cover at the plover's courtship scrapes and nest sites with that at random locations in coastal northern California. Ammophila cover around nests and scrapes was significantly less...