Great Point likely to open today as one last plover chick gets airborne
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
When the last of three piping plover chicks gets off the ground today, Steve Nicolle, the Trustees of Reservations' property superintendent on Nantucket, expects to reopen the sand route out to Great Point.

Nicolle said around 1 p.m. yesterday that he was keeping his eyes on the third chick of a clutch of three that was almost in the air and able to fly, but that he wanted to ensure that it could stay aloft and fly well enough to avoid vehicles and people.

"I just need to give one chick one more day," he said. "I fully expect him to fly tomorrow [Wednesday]."

Nicolle closed the beach from the southern end of the narrow barrier beach known as the Galls to Great Point on June 15 when the three eggs in this nest hatched, allowing only pedestrian traffic during the period of closure.

When beach drivers do get out onto the Galls and drive out to Great Point, they will discover that its very tip is cordoned off with symbolic fencing and warning signs to protect a colony of nesting terns whose chicks all recently hatched out of their eggs.

"They're nesting above the high-tide mark and there are 60 to 70 nests, so we're prepared to keep that closed and we're going to keep that closed to walkers as well," said Nicolle.

In the same area there are still about 25 to 35 seals lingering on Great Point that will also benefit from the Trustees'

protection. I