An endangered piping plover,\u00a0nestled on\u00a0the launch point of Montauk\u2019s annual Fourth of July fireworks show, forced\u00a0officials to postpone the\u00a0event twice over the holiday\u00a0weekend.<\/p>\n
A new date for the “Stars Over Montauk,” fireworks display at Umbrella Beach\u00a0has not been set, Montauk officials said.<\/p>\n
During final checks before the show was set to begin\u00a0Friday\u00a0evening, “a nesting piping plover made itself known at the launch site,” Montauk officials wrote in a statement\u00a0Sunday.<\/p>\n
The piping plover, typically about 5\u00a0inches long with orange legs and a white rump at adulthood, is a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act.<\/p>\n
“Multiple parties across local, state, and federal levels have been working to find a solution,” but rescheduling the show for Sunday became impossible, they wrote.<\/p>\n
Piping plovers are one of 89 bird species classified as threatened or endangered by the federal government<\/a>, with just 200 breeding pairs in New York<\/a>. The birds nest on Long Island\u2019s sand beaches, stretching from Queens to the Hamptons, and in Suffolk County bays and harbors, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.<\/p>\n The shorebirds arrive from early to mid-March for the summer, building nests lined with pebbles and shells. They lay one egg every other day, munching on worms, larvae and beetles in the meantime. Young piping plovers are ambitious, leaving the nest within about 30 days of hatching.<\/p>\n The birds nest above the shoreline with enough distance to avoid high tides, but close enough so newborns can look for food along the\u00a0wrack line. Sometimes, high tides knock out a freshly laid nest, forcing plovers to rebuild another one.<\/p>\n