'King tide' adds to worries about holiday crowds, Florida shorebirds' eggs

A "king tide" will push the Gulf of Mexico higher onto the Southwest Florida coast this Memorial Day weekend, leaving less sand for nesting shorebirds and beachgoers to share.

The higher-than-normal tide, also called a perigean spring tide, happens when the moon is new or full and is closest to the Earth, maximizing the moon's gravitational pull on the oceans.

This weekend, high tides are predicted to reach as high as 3 feet in south Lee County and as high as 3½ feet on Marco and Naples beaches, as much as a foot higher in some places than a regular high tide, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tide tables show.

And because it coincides with a long holiday weekend, the "king tide" is adding a layer of concern for shorebird monitors. The monitors already were worried that a crush of boaters and beachgoers might unknowingly trample tiny shorebird eggs just as nesting season is ramping up for threatened and protected species of terns, skimmers and plovers.

"It's a busy time for birds on the beach, and it's a busy time for people on the beach, too," said Adam DiNuovo, Rookery Bay reserve-based shorebird and stewardship program manager for Audubon Florida.

Dozens of Audubon shorebird stewards will be on Southwest Florida beaches this weekend to remind beachgoers to stay out of roped-off areas, not let dogs roam free and pack out garbage so it doesn't attract predators.

DiNuovo said he is only "slightly concerned" the higher high tides will wash out shorebird nests.

He said most nests on Sand Dollar Island, a spit of sand where thousands of birds nest on Marco Island, survived this week's blow from a storm that roiled the Gulf.

"I think we kind of dodged a bullet," he said, adding that he doesn't know the fate of dozens of other nests at other more remote nesting sites.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has counted more than 1,000 black skimmers and 500 to 700 least terns nesting at Sand Dollar Island.

That colony, which was the largest in Florida last year, has been fighting an invasion of crows with the help of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

USDA Wildlife Service officers have closed the beach to the public for hours at a time a few days over the past two weeks to shoot marauding crows. They have killed more than 30, said FWC regional biologist Ricardo Zambrano.

Two years ago, monitors said crows ate more than 5,000 shorebird eggs at another colony on Marco Island. That colony collapsed, and shorebirds have not returned.

Geography was less kind to shorebird nesting sites on Fort Myers Beach, which curves into the Gulf at an angle that faces into teeth of the winds this week's storm kicked up.

Audubon of the Western Everglades policy advocate Brad Cornell said that colony might have lost half of its nests, though he didn't have a number.

"I'm concerned that colony got pretty wasted," Cornell said.

Weather forecasts are predicting calmer seas this weekend, which should work to blunt the effect of the "king tide" on nesting shorebirds and sea turtles.

Sea turtle season is off to one of its fastest starts in more than a decade on Collier County beaches, where sea turtles had laid 205 nests as of May 22.

Last week's storm washed out 50 nests on mainland Collier beaches, and an additional 22 were flooded, putting developing eggs at risk, said Collier turtle monitor Maura Kraus.

No nests washed out in south Lee, where sea turtles are off to a slower start, laying fewer than 45 nests between Fort Myers Beach and Bonita Beach, not including Lovers Key.

Turtle monitors are reminding nighttime beach walkers to keep their phone flashlights off and to stay clear of turtles coming ashore to nest.

Kraus said most of the remaining Collier nests are high enough on the beach to be out of the reach of this weekend's "king tide." 

"We're just going to have to hope for the best," she said.

HELP NESTING SHOREBIRDS

Stay out of posted areas, even if you don't see birds and nests, which can be well camouflaged.

If birds appear agitated or fly off, you are too close.

Don't let pets off boats onto posted islands or beaches.

Do not feed gulls or herons or leave behind trash that can attract predators.

Leave the fireworks at home.

Source: Audubon Florida