Domestic dogs as nest predators of Wilson’s plover in northeastern Brazil

Diniz, C. G., de Morais Magalhães, N. G., Guerreiro, D., Diniz, P. D. C. P., Paulo, D. C., Renato, F., ... & Diniz, C. W. P. (2016). Cães domésticos predadores de ninho de batuíra bicuda (Charadrius wilsonia) no nordeste brasileiro. Revista da Biologia, 16(1), 24-27. 

Although Wilson´s plovers (Charadrius wilsonia) are migratory, a resident population breeds in coastal northeastern Brazil and there population trend is described as decreasing by the IUCN Red List. Domestic dogs are a major predator of Wilson’s plover nests on an island in northeastern Brazil where dogs are kept to guard fishing equipment. Local fishermen, however, are motivated to protect the nests of shorebirds and when shown video recordings documenting nest predation acted quickly to remove dogs. We found that providing local residents with evidence about the causes of nest
predation could play an effective role in protecting bird populations.