The second nest of piping plovers at Beach Area 1 in Wasaga Beach has been abandoned.
Plover Coordinator Kim Jaxa Dibicki says Tuesday would have been day 51 of incubation, but the parent plovers left the nest around 7:30 AM.
She says the Ministry of Natural Resources will be coming later this week to get the eggs and analyze them.
But Jaxa-Dibicki says those eggs have been sitting on the beach for more than 50 days, so the Ministry may not be able to determine what happened.
She says it could have been a fertilization problem or an incubation problem with the eggs, and it’s something that couldn’t have been prevented.
Jaxa-Dibicki says there isn’t a timeline yet for how long it will take the MNR to analyze the eggs.
But she says the first nest is doing great, and the plover chicks are starting to disappear.
Jaxa-Dibicki says there were only two chicks as of this morning, and she says they’re doing exactly what they’re supposed to be doing now that they’re 6 weeks old.