Piping plover pair numbers exceeded previous years this season, with a record number of 23 nesting pairs. A federally threatened and New York State endangered species, the piping plover has been monitored on Town of Hempstead beaches since the 1980s, and numbers have been gradually increasing since.
Plovers lay a small camouflaged nest in a shell-lined depression in the sand, and their nesting areas are protected by Town biologists. In addition, trained biology staff provide supplemental nest protection by installing predator guards around the nests, in order to protect the eggs from predators such as feral cats, raccoons, crows, and gulls. See the table below for the results of the 2021 piping plover breeding season in Point Lookout and Lido Beach, NY.
| Location | # of Pairs | # of Fledged Chicks | Hatch Rate | Fledge Rate | Productivity |
| Point Lookout and Lido Beach | 23 | 30 | 0.82 | 0.36 | 1.3 |
Piping Plover Productivity, 2021, Point Lookout and Lido Beach, NY
Photo Credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology