Hooded Plover conservation in South Gippsland through volunteer engagement

Final Report by Friends of the Hooded Plover, South Gippsland

Hooded Plovers (Thinornis cucullatus) are declining across much of their range and are listed as Vulnerable in
Victoria under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 and federally under the Environment Protection and
Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. They have been recently named as one of 20 priority species for the
Federal Government to improve the trajectory of by 2020.

Hooded Plovers nest on ocean beaches and dunes during August to March, coinciding with peak recreation
times. Consequently, breeding Hooded Plovers experience disturbance and nest crushing by beach users,
dogs, and in some areas, horses and vehicles. Breeding success is extremely low (~20% chick survival) and
management intervention in the form of protective fencing around breeding sites has increased breeding
success in Victoria since 2006. Hooded Plover conservation has widespread benefits to coastal biodiversity,
acting as an indicator species reflecting health of coastal habitats, and as a flagship for community
involvement in natural resource management.

Since the inception of BirdLife Australia’s Beach-nesting Birds (BNB) project, 12 years ago, there has been
much interest in trying to help these gorgeous birds, in particular the Hooded Plover found along the
beaches from Venus Bay, Walkerville, Waratah Bay, through the Prom to Corner Inlet. Our volunteer group is
one of BirdLife Australia’s network of “Friends of the Hooded Plover (FoHP)” groups across Victoria and
South Australia. We are a very small group (FoHP South Gippsland) and we participate in the national
Hooded Plover census (biennial count) every two years, regularly monitor breeding hoodies through the
breeding season, and we set up the fencing and signs around vulnerable nest/chick sites. We also try to chat
to as many beach users as possible and to build awareness in our local community, and to help out at events
that BirdLife runs in our local area.

FoHP South Gippsland received financial assistance in the form of a small grant from the Australian Bird
Environment Foundation in June 2018 to improve local efforts to conserve the Hooded Plover in South
Gippsland (Venus Bay in the west to Mcloughlins Beach in the east), with guidance from BirdLife Australia’s
BNB project. The following has been achieved over the last year.

Two half-day Hooded Plover monitoring training workshops were conducted by BirdLife Australia’s BNB
project staff in early October 2018. The first workshop was conducted at Wonthaggi and the second at Fish
Creek, both of which had good attendances. Consequently, we have successfully recruited seven new
volunteers to our group who have joined in the local monitoring efforts. Four training beach walks were
conducted by BirdLife staff (see photos below), one in each month commencing from November 2018. The
beach walk in November held at Waratah Bay was organised to coincide with the Beach-nesting Birds
project’s national Hooded Plover census (biennial count) and there were attendees from as far as St Kilda
who regularly visit South Gippsland for holidays. The last training beach walk was conducted in February
2019 at the Wilsons Promontory National Park to raise awareness amongst the general public as well as to
train members of the ‘Friends of the Prom’ group to monitor Hooded Plovers. It was well-received by the
Friends group and ten of its members have signed up to be trained as monitors for the upcoming season.
 Training beach walk at Wilsons Prom National Park Training beach walk at Wilsons Prom National Park

Training beach walk at Wilsons Prom National Park Training beach walk at Wilsons Prom National Park

Training beach walk at Inverloch Venus Bay beach

Both the training workshop at Fish Creek and the training beach walk at Waratah Bay were advertised on the
local newspaper the “South Gippsland Sentinel-Times” on Tuesday 18th of September 2018 (see extract from
newspaper, overleaf). The newspaper advertisement sparked a lot of interest among the general public
which resulted in good attendances at both events. A lot of awareness raising and educational material
(brochures, stickers, kids’ activity booklets, dog leads, etc.) were distributed at all these events.
Customised field notebooks (see photos below) designed by BirdLife Australia’s BNB project to help
volunteers collect essential Hooded Plover breeding data and data on threats present at nesting sites were
purchased and distributed among volunteers in the FoHP South Gippsland group. The field notebooks were
well-received especially among new volunteers as they are pocket-sized, and each sheet contains a reduced
version of a data sheet which has all the critical types of data that must be collected on each monitoring
visit. The BNB project’s “Threats to MyHoodie” booklets (see photos below) which contain detailed
information about the different threat types and how to differentiate between similar threats were also
purchased and distributed among volunteers.
Wide-brimmed hats with the embroidered BirdLife Australia’s FoHP logo (see photo below) were purchased
and distributed among volunteers. Volunteers have expressed their delight in receiving and wearing these
on their monitoring visits because they have provided them with an identity when communicating with
members of the public. As the hats were well-received we decided to purchase eight more hats using the
funds that were allocated towards embroidered iron-on patches with BirdLife Australia’s FoHP logo which
serve the same purpose.

We are extremely grateful to the Australian Bird Environment Foundation for granting us financial assistance
and to BirdLife Australia’s Beach-nesting Birds project for their guidance and support.