bioGraphic @biographic.bsky.social · Jul 10 These cotton balls on toothpicks nest on the ground, and have long been the victims of predation by the island's red foxes. But in 2015, an outbreak of sarcoptic mange tore through Fire Island's foxes.
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What happened next is a familiar tale. As they do in other places where there is a sudden power vacuum caused by the loss of top predators, feral cats were quick to fill the void. Now, piping plovers are being lost to the claws of cats far more than what they suffered in the island’s fox era.