The piping plover is still endangered on Delaware’s beaches, but it is holding steady in the First State.

The birds could always use extra protection, though. A group of volunteers went to the Officers Club at Cape Henlopen State Park on May 2 to learn how they will help keep the birds’ sensitive habitat free from human disturbance. Signs, chains and posts close off The Point, a sandy peninsula that spits out to the Delaware Bay. Piping plovers nest there and need that exact habitat to emerge from their endangered status.

The volunteers will station at those posts to let people know they can’t go through to The Point. If the visitors do, law enforcement might be contacted. Human disturbance, trash and development are some of the most pressing threats to nesting shorebirds on the Atlantic coast, including the piping plover.

The plovers nest on sandy beaches with limited vegetation.

There are more threats to the birds besides humans. Red foxes, dogs, cats and bigger birds like seagulls and crows can harm them. Ongoing sea-level rise doesn’t help either.

“Less beach means less space for them to go,” said Shawn Sullivan in a presentation to volunteers, beach-nesting bird biologist with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s Fish and Wildlife Division.

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The piping plover is a small shorebird with a gray back and a distinct black “eyebrow” above its eyes and beak. The birds can be found from Canada through the Mid-Atlantic in the summer months, including here in Cape Henlopen State Park. They usually arrive around March, and fledging birds are usually migrating south in August and September. Plovers have a incubation period of about 25-28 days in their eggs.

Adults grow to about 7 inches, so the chicks are tiny.

“The payoff is the fuzzballs you get,” Sullivan said about the chicks.

Plover populations in Delaware are concentrated at The Point and at Fowler Beach near Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge. In 2025, there were nine pairs of plovers at Cape Henlopen, 21 pairs at Fowler Beach and 30 chicks, 27 of which fledged. That’s more pairs than in 2024, but 10 fewer fledging chicks than in 2024.

Protecting the piping plover

The regional goal for the piping plover population is to get 2,000 pairs of plovers and 1.5 chicks per pair for five straight years. Delaware has an advantage in plover protection that other states don’t, Sullivan said.

The ability to close the Point and Fowler Beach completely from March through the fall helps the birds, Sullivan said, and other states don’t have large beach habitats closed like that. The creation of Fowler Beach is a “saving grace,” Sullivan said, because the Cape Henlopen population is small, but steady.

The bayside of The Point is closed until October, and the ocean side is closed until September.

Nests are surrounded with fences and netting so only the plovers can get in or out, which Sullivan said works. It protects from foxes, coyotes, larger birds and more.

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Sullivan said Southern states, New York and New Jersey are struggling with piping plover population maintenance, and New England states like Massachusetts are faring much better.

Sullivan said the birds receive color-coded bands when they hatch so the population can be tracked. Eight adults and 63 chicks have been banded. If you see a piping plover with a colored band around its leg, let the state know at deshorebirds@delaware.gov so they can keep a track of the population.

How to help piping plovers

Volunteers will be stationed at the rope that is closing The Point off from the Cape Henlopen State Park bay and ocean beaches. Do not walk past that rope, and listen to the volunteers.

Most of the volunteers are older in age, which is representative of the area’s population. But some younger people showed up to the May 2 meeting to learn about how they can keep The Point pristine. Kathryn Lienhard, a 27-year-old from Lewes, said she is volunteering because she cares about shorebirds and their habitat and wants to support them. Seeing a few of the birds would be cool, too.

“We all share in the benefits of our natural resources. It’s up to all of us, including young people, to take care of them,” she said.

If interested, fill out the form that more than 100 people already signed at DNREC’s website. They are looking for volunteers who can stay out there in a beach chair during peak daytime hours, weekends and holidays.

Shane Brennan covers Wilmington and other Delaware issues. Reach out with ideas, tips or feedback at slbrennan@delawareonline.com.

Delaware’s lengthy quest to return to the NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Tournament was thwarted on May 2 in Jacksonville, Florida.

Jacksonville topped the Blue Hens 16-11 in the Atlantic Sun Conference title game, earning an automatic NCAA berth, at the rainy Rock Lacrosse Center.

The 29-team NCAA tourney bracket will be unveiled at 9 p.m. May 3 on ESPNU. Delaware was 33rd and Jacksonville 35th in the latest RPI, meaning the Blue Hens are likely a long shot for one of the 14 at-large berths.

Regular-season ASUN champ and top-seeded Delaware (13-5) had won a school record 12 in a row, including nipping Jacksonville 14-13 on March 26 at Delaware Stadium, where the Hens rallied from a four-goal third-period deficit.

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In the title game, Delaware trailed 4-2 after the first quarter, 8-5 at halftime and 13-7 after the third period and couldn’t complete another comeback against the Dolphins (13-5).

Maggie Porter had three goals and Sophia Muscolino scored twice for the Blue Hens. An 18-11 edge in draw controls keyed the Dolphins.

• Excerpts from The News Journal archives from May 3-9 include a car-train collision kills four in 1926.
• A man returns money dropped by an armored car in 1976.
• New Castle County raises homebuilding fee over 500% to benefit fire companies in 2006.

The Delaware history column features excerpts from The News Journal archives including The Morning News and The Evening Journal. See the archives at delawareonline.com.

May 3, 1926, The Evening Journal

Thousands attend funeral of train collision victims at Barratt’s Chapel

Editor’s note: This report also has excerpts about the collision from the April 29, 1926, issue of The Evening Journal.

Mr. and Mrs. Wilburn B. Friedel and daughters Ruth, 14, and Grace, 11, who were killed Wednesday evening when a train struck their automobile at a crossing near Felton, were buried at Barratt’s Chapel yesterday afternoon.

It was the first time in the history of this church known throughout the country as the cradle of Methodism that four members of the same family have been buried at the same time.

It was also the largest attended funeral in the history of the old chapel. Thousands of persons from all sections of the county and state were in attendance….

Their third daughter, Delma, aged 16 years, who was the only occupant of the car to survive, is still in critical condition in the Milford Hospital.

The son of the deceased couple, Wilburn Jr., 22, who was visiting in New York at the time of the accident, was present at the services.

Mr. Friedel was a farmer living two miles from Felton. He and his family had been visiting his mother, Mrs. Effie Friedel, and were on their way home when the accident happened at the Delaware Railroad crossing just east of Felton.

His mother’s home is but a short distance from crossing. She, with a daughter, was standing on the porch of her home and had just waved good-bye as the locomotive crashed into the automobile….

The crossing is protected with warning signs. The express was northbound. It is thought that Mr. Friedel had just temporarily glanced back to his mother’s home and failed to look down the track before starting across….

The train, known as the American Express Special D-20, left Delmar at 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon and was due in Philadelphia at 9:05 that night….

According to employees of the railroad company, the engineer had sounded his whistle on approaching the crossing and the bell was ringing at the time of the collision.

Following the crash, the engineer brought his train to a stop and the task of investigating the tragedy began. The train was delayed for more than an hour….

The railroaders in charge were not detained but were ordered to appear at the inquest….

The funeral services in the old chapel were crowded to the doors. Scores stood in the aisles and around the walls, but not more than one-tenth of the people in attendance could get inside. The others stood quietly in the churchyard until the services were over and the bodies were brought to the graveyard for interment….

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Services were conducted by the Rev. D.J. Moore, pastor of Felton M.E. Church, and he was assisted by the Rev. E.H. Collins of Harrington and the Rev. H.B. Kelso of Dover….

Dr. Moore alluded to the fact that the victims were regular attendants and interested in the church. He did not refer to the accident itself but drew lessons from the uncertainty of life and the necessity for being prepared for death….

May 6, 1976, The Morning News

$54,500 traded for $2,725 in armored car money drop

An “honest” Delawarean, who, has apparently been staring at a pile of $54,500 in unmarked, small denomination bills since last Friday, turned his find over to police yesterday.

The man, identified by New Castle County Police only as “an anonymous citizen of Delaware,” collected a reward of $2,725 for returning the cash, which fell out of a Purolator Courier armored truck when it hit a bump on U.S. 202 and a door flew open Friday about 7 a.m.

Lt. Richard LeCates said the man telephoned police Wednesday at about 8 a.m., and said he was bringing the money in. Two hours later, he walked into police headquarters and plopped the moneybags on a detective’s desk.