Long Island beachgoers are being asked to share the shore with some small but special sun lovers.

Those who work to preserve the Island’s natural seashore habitat have a request— they are asking beach goers to share the shores.

Shelby Casas from Audubon NY says Long Island beaches become a nursery for protected shore birds each spring and summer. This includes the 3-mile stretch of oceanfront at Lido Beach in the Town of Hempstead.

“Some of these birds come all the way from the Bahamas, Cuba and come nest, raise their chicks right on our shores,” Casas says.

She adds that the birds rely on residents sharing the shore because the beach season is their nesting season. Every year between May and August, the birds hatch their chicks.

"We have the piping plover, the American oyster catcher, the common tern, the least tern and a lot of people’s favorite, the black skimmer,” Casas says.

Wire metal cages are placed on beaches to protect the piping plovers’ nests from predators. The roped-off areas also remind people to stay away from nesting sites.

People interfering with the sites could result in the destruction of hard-to-see fragile eggs or adult birds abandoning their nests.

Cassas says the extra steps taken to help protect the birds will keep them choosing the Island as their place to sun for years to come.

“These birds are going to come back year after year and create this lineage of birds that call Long Island their home,” she says. “They were here first, and they deserve to be here indefinitely.”

The roped off areas where the protected birds are located are monitored daily by volunteers who keep track of nesting areas.