Beach-nesting piping plovers experienced poor nest productivity on their breeding grounds in Delaware during 2021, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control said Thursday.

Six pairs of the rare shorebird species were recorded nesting at The Point at Cape Henlopen State Park, Lewes, with 18 more at Fowler Beach on Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, Milton, making for a modern-day record of 24 breeding pairs.

Despite that number, piping plovers were less successful in producing, with only 19 fledglings that hatched and left their nests.

Poor fledgling productivity is suspected to be the result of nest loss from a Memorial Day storm and higher-than-average predation at Fowler Beach.

Record productivity was documented in Delaware over the previous three years for the federally listed threatened species and state-listed endangered species.

In 1996, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service established a goal of 1.5 fledglings per breeding pair, as part of its piping plover recovery plan. Delaware’s nesting productivity exceeded that goal from 2018-20.

This year, the state Division of Fish & Wildlife recorded 19 fledglings, for a productivity rate of 0.8 fledglings per breeding pair. In 2020, 21 pairs were documented, producing 47 fledglings (2.2 fledglings/pair).

The state’s piping plover recovery effort involves partnerships between the Delaware Division of Fish & Wildlife, the Delaware Division of Parks and Recreation, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services.

In other updates, two pairs of American oystercatchers nested at The Point at Cape Henlopen, while one pair nested at Delaware Seashore State Park, Dewey Beach.

Although the nest successfully hatched at Delaware Seashore State Park, the chicks did not fledge. However, a pair of oystercatchers was observed using the marsh islands of the park and were seen with two chicks that appear to have successfully fledged.

Least tern counts were lower than in recent years, with only four breeding pairs and four nests found at Cape Henlopen State Park. Only two chicks hatched, and neither of them fledged.