Hooded Plover Report

Hooded Plover Research Report
By Daniel Foo
15/2/2009



Synopsis
Hooded plovers, otherwise known as Thinornis rubricollis, are a vulnerable species of bird which live on the beach. Their natural habitat is between the high tide line and the fore dune. They are a vulnerable species because their numbers are continuingly dropping due to the low success rate of their breeding. Humans are also one of the main causes of the destruction as many of us accidentally step on nests with eggs on them playing activities such as cricket. This also helps to contribute to the plight of the Hooded Plover. Some solutions may be to make people aware that the beach is a Hooded Plover beach and that you need to be careful.

Aim and Introduction:
The aim of the Hooded Plover project is to create a systematic long-term monitoring program which regularly checks on how the Hooded Plover is going. This includes distribution, breeding activities and threats at normal Hooded Plover sites based in the Yorke Peninsula which is mainly the Inness National Park. The results will then be used to create plans to increase the Hooded Plover numbers by helping their breeding success. We also were looking for threats so that we could act against what is threatening them.

Method:
Started looking for Hooded Plovers at boat ramp at Pondalowie Bay and headed left. Looked for Hooded Plover from the water line and looked towards the sand dunes. Saw two adult Hooded Plovers in the sand dunes. They went to the rocks next to the sand dunes and were moving back and forth through there. Went around them and went up the beach. Turned back and walked on the rocks. Went back to where they were and the Hooded Plovers started running away. They called their Fledglings and they came running out of their hiding places. There were two of them. Took a couple of photos of the Hooded Plovers. Checked to see if there were any signs of nesting. Couldn’t find any sign of nesting so moved on down the beach. Kept walking until we reached West Bay. Went back and wrote down information about what we saw including potential threats and weather.

Results
I think that what is happening to the Hooded Plover is a serious situation and should be stopped if possible. What I saw in February 14th was that the Hooded Plover and its Fledglings were living in the Sand Dune. This is surprising because their usual habitat is between the High tide line and the fore dune. I think that this is a good improvement because in the sand dune there is less of a chance that they will be trodden on by people playing games such as cricket and they won’t be run over by people who drive Four Wheel Drives.
One of the main reasons why the Hooded Plovers are slowly dying is because people are unknowingly destroying their nests and eggs. If more people knew about the Hooded Plovers then they would know not to drive their Four Wheel Drives around the whole beach when they could just walk. Also people playing cricket should play where around where the hard sand is which is usually near the water. This is because the Hooded Plovers are around the soft sand near the fore dune. Also when you think about it, playing cricket is a lot better when the ball bounces and it bounces more on the hard sand rather than on the soft.
When we were at Pondalowie Bay and at West Bay we saw a few potential threats. These include:
Human Foot Prints
10+
Walkers/Joggers
10
Sunbaking/Sitting
1
Fishers
7
Quad bike or 4WD tracks
3
Ravens
2
Silver Gulls
12
Kelp or Pacific Gulls
1
Litter
3
Other-Sooty oyster catches
1


Discussion
The Hooded Plovers being in the sand dunes means that they might have slowly adapted to what is happening to them and they are putting themselves out of danger by being in the sand dunes. If this is the case then they will survive a lot better because they won’t be in the place where people like to play cricket. They also won’t be in the way of Four Wheel Drives and cars that are diving past. If the Hooded Plovers are finally moving into the sand dunes, which is highly unlikely, it will be for the good. But this has taken so long that their numbers have been reduced severely and they will have trouble surviving. If they haven’t moved into the sand dunes then we as humans should intervene and help them rebuild in numbers.

Conclusion
The Hooded Plover is vulnerable because of the low success rate of their breeding. With humans who are unaware of the vulnerability of the Hooded Plovers the success rate of the breeding gets lower due to the fact that we break their eggs and nests while playing cricket or driving along the beach in our Four Wheel Drives. One of the things that we can do is to make people aware that Hooded Plovers are around when they are on a Hooded Plover beach. This should then make people play cricket in the hard sand where Hooded Plovers aren’t usually inhabiting and only drive Four Wheel Drives when they have to. Also our pets are treading on nests and sometimes eating the Hooded Plovers. This can be easily stopped by keeping pets on leashes.