The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control will reopen a stretch of oceanside beach at The Point at Cape Henlopen State Park on Tuesday, Sept. 1. The Point’s bayside beach will remain closed until Thursday, Oct.1 for use by shorebirds migrating south for the winter.
The Point has closed annually since 1993 every March for the benefit of threatened and endangered beach-nesting and migratory shorebirds, including piping plovers, oystercatchers, least terns, red knots and other species before it reopens in the late summer-early fall for beachgoers and anglers.
The DNREC Divisions of Parks and Recreation, Fish and Wildlife and Watershed Stewardship have worked together since 1990 to implement a management plan to increase beach-nester and migratory shorebird populations. Closing The Point to park visitors provides an area of undisturbed beach and intertidal habitat for a host of shorebirds, gulls, terns and other waterbirds to rest and feed after the breeding season, one of only three in the state.
This year, the divisions teamed up to create two new nesting plots, or exclosures, to improve the chances of survival for least terns, a state-endangered species, which have historically nested at The Point. The plots include six-foot fencing around the exclosure with a two-foot skirt under the area to protect nesting birds against predators. The strategy also included least tern decoys and a battery-powered music box that broadcasts the birds’ calls to encourage nesting in the area.
There were approximately 150 least tern nests counted by the Division of Fish and Wildlife at The Point, with half of those nests located inside the fencing, and 125 least tern chicks were counted. With the least tern season still active, the area is expected to produce about 60 fledglings.
The Point also attracted 10 pairs of piping plover, a federally-endangered species, that fledged 12 chicks.
Reservations will open for the Point Crossing drive-on surf fishing beach oceanside on Tuesday, Aug. 25 for the weekend of Aug 29-30 and on Tuesday, Sept. 1, for the weekend of Sept. 5-6 and Thursday, Sept. 3, for Labor Day, Sept. 7.
Cape Henlopen State Park is offering a free, guided 1.7-mile-hike to The Point on Oct. 1 to explore the beauty of this special area and its ecological importance. It is open to ages 7 and up with an adult and is free with a paid park entrance. Pre-registration is required by calling (302) 645-6852.
For more information on the least tern project, visit the DNREC News webpage. For activities year-round at Cape Henlopen State Park, see the destateparks.com/park/cape-henlopen webpage.