On a dreary May afternoon, students from Rockaway Park High School for Environmental Sustainability saw one of the 100 piping plovers that come to city shores each year.

“From Far Rockaway to Breezy Point is where you're going to find them. And that’s one of them,” Chris Allieri, founder and executive director of the NYC Plover Project, told the students.

The birds — endangered in New York and protected federally — are visiting the beaches of the Rockaway Peninsula to nest and raise their young. The students were visiting the beach with the NYC Plover Project, which launched a partnership with the school this year. 

With funding from the National Park Foundation and in partnership with the National Park Service, they’ve been educating students in the classroom -- but also bringing them out into nature, where they can see nesting shorebirds like plovers and the larger, louder American oystercatcher.

“We can't teach about birds, or we can't teach about science, without being outside,” Allieri said.

“I’m really glad we got to see piping plovers today. They were so small and so cute,” Geordaine Brown, 15, a sophomore, said.

Piping plovers are tiny shorebirds who camouflage with the sand where they lay their eggs. But they’re threatened by development of their habitat, predation by other birds and animals, and the encroachment of people.

There are between 6,000 and 8,000 remaining globally, according to the NYC Plover Project.

“It's really sad because they're a really cute species. That's just really sad,” Geordaine said.

“I usually just be seeing, like, the regular types of birds in NYC. So this is, like, an experience to see these types of birds, and I hope to do it again,” Kenneth Fillmore, 16, a sophomore, said.

On a gray day in May, the beach was deserted, but pretty soon it will be packed full of people for the summer. Volunteers hope those people don't mind sharing a little bit of the sand with this endangered species.

Each year, portions of Queens beaches are roped off for nesting piping plovers and oystercatchers.

This sometimes frustrates beachgoers, and volunteers from the NYC Plover Project regularly visit beaches to help educate people. They hope these students will become the next generation of stewards for this tiny bird.

“I look at it as building a culture of conservation. And when we're all invested in the species that we're sharing the beach with, we can celebrate them. Instead of feeling frustrated, we can look at it as a miracle,” Ciara Fagan, education director at the NYC Plover Project, said.

“I don't want our message to young people to be like, ‘Let me tell you about a bird that used to exist,’” Allieri said. “I want us to be able to tell and inspire young people so that they can be the next generation of stewards.”