Word about the Hood

Biannual newsletter of BirdLife Australia’s Beach-nesting Birds Program

Edition 15 – June 2016

UPDATE FROM THE BEACH-NESTING BIRDS TEAM Source: Glenn Ehmke Renée Mead and Meghan Cullen, Beach-nesting birds interim Managers!

The birds started on time this season (August), and had many of us off guard at how quickly the season took off! Normally there’s a spattering of nests recorded along the coast, and then it really starts to pick up and get into the swing of things in late September (depending on the region). But the birds started in August, and then kept going, and going, and going, with the last fledgling recorded in Belfast Coastal Reserve in Far west Victoria in mid April.

The Beach-nesting Birds team have been busy delivering and finalising grants, and supporting our diverse Friends of the Hooded Plover groups across southern east Australia. We’ve been busy on Eyre Peninsula, Samphire Coast, Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia, in Victoria we’ve been all along the Great Ocean Road, Mornington Peninsula, Bass Coast – and everywhere in between!

Late in January, Coast and Marine Program Manager, Dr. Grainne Maguire went on maternity leave! This was a bit sudden as itty bitty little Elara was born early. Grainne would like to pass on her disappointment at not getting to say a temporary goodbye to everyone and apologises for leaving some things unfinished. After a long four months, Elara is out of hospital. She is a well loved member of the BNB team, and little sister to Kai! We want to congratulate Grainne on the arrival, and we look forward to her first venture back onto the beach to look for hoodies!

Meg and I have been working tirelessly to try and keep the project running as smoothly as we can while Grainne is on leave and we want to thank everyone for helping us out, as we’re still finding our feet without a key member of our team! We have enlisted some extra hands to help while Grainne is on maternity leave – Dan Lees and Kasun Ekanayake have come on board for a couple of days a week to help Meg and I out over the coming months! We welcome them on board!

But, back to the birds! It has been a ripper of a season! We’ve had such a great success in most areas, and some regions have recorded the highest number of fledglings since BirdLife monitoring began – so it’s been a great reward for those volunteers who have seen nests fail season after season – but like the Hooded Plover, the volunteers persevere on, and have had a wonderful end to the season.

We hope to explore the data and identify changes which occurred this season which may account for such a boom! Already we have hosted regional debriefs to chat to volunteer and land managers about the previous season, what worked, what didn’t and to start preparations for next season. We attended these on the Fleurieu Peninsula (SA), and in Victoria we did these for Far West Victoria, Apollo Bay, Bellarine Peninsula, Surf Coast and Bass Coast, South Gippsland and even Wilsons Prom!

Make sure all your data from the 2015-16 season is in the portal by the 18th July – after this, we will be initialising the portal ready for the 2016-17 season – with some new and exciting developments!

We’ve been busy in the office, applying for new grants so we can take the project where we want it, writing reports for grants now completed, applying for permits and ethics for both Red-capped Plover and Hooded Plover monitoring and flagging in SA, and Hoodie work in VIC including a pilot study this coming season of using radio trackers to determine chick fates. It’s all paperwork this time of year, and trying to secure funds to keep the project going long term and make sure there is a smooth transition into the next breeding season!

We hope you all enjoyed the 2015-2016 breeding season, and look forward to the next one!

A SNAPSHOP OF THE 2015/2016 BREEDING SEASON

Across Victoria and on the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia it has been an exceptionally good season, with many regions confirming their highest number of fledglings since records began. Some regions didn’t have such a successful season, but overall, it was a positive result for Hooded Plovers.

The results below are preliminary summary results, we’re still confirming the detailed data, but at the moment, it was a pretty good season, with 174 pairs monitored and 137 fledglings produced this season, the highest record to date. This brings the average to 0.78 fledglings per pair – our aim is to reach between 0.4 and 0.5 fledglings per pair – the fledgling per pair number is important to reach as a target, as this is the minimum number of fledglings required to be able to recruit enough young into the population to halt the decline.! We look forward to going through this data in detail to compare and see what may have resulted in such a great year.

This effort would not have been possible if it weren’t for the continued and dedicated management, education and research into the species. Coastal Communities are adopting Hooded Plovers as a flagship species for healthy coastlines and the sense of ‘ownership’ within communities is wonderful. Even Renee’s real-estate agent had heard of the Hooded Plover, and she wasn’t even near a Hooded Plover beach! So the word is spreading, thanks to the tireless efforts of over 750 volunteers and dedicated land managers.

Region # pairs monitored Fledglings Fledglings/pair Bellarine-Surf Coast 13 10 0.76 Otways 13 10 0.77 Far West Victoria 34 26 0.76 Mornington Peninsula 30 7 0.23 Phillip Island 18 17 0.94 Bass Coast 36 23 0.63 South Gippsland (including Wilsons Prom) 17 15 0.88 Fleurieu, SA 21 19 0.90

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WELCOME TO OUR NEW BEACH-NESTING BIRDS STAFF AND INTERNS!

BEACH-NESTING BIRDS PROJECT OFFICER

Kasun Ekanayake

It is good to be back to saving Hoodies finally managing to finish my PhD after 4 years. After all, it was working with Hooded Plovers and Red-capped Plovers that encouraged me to study the Little Raven for my PhD because the smart corvids were outcompeting foxes when it came to preying on eggs of the plovers. Therefore, I decided to study the egg predatory behaviour of Little Ravens and I chose two prey species namely, the ground-nesting Red- capped Plover and the burrow-nesting Little Penguin. I found that Ravens were responsible for preying on 61% of Little Penguin clutches and 79% of Red-capped Plover clutches and that Ravens were congregating to the breeding grounds of both these prey species during their breeding seasons to take advantage of eggs as a food source. It was amazing to see how Ravens went about raiding the burrows of Little Penguins to steal the eggs. Based on what I found during my PhD, a second PhD student Ms Laura Tan is now investigating potential means of managing egg predation by Ravens, the results of which will be extremely interesting! Hopefully we will be able to find a solution to this emergent threat which will in turn help us in saving Hoodies as well.

BEACH-NESTING BIRDS PROJECT OFFICER

Daniel Lees From a young age I have always had an interest in wildlife and conservation, however my passion for wildlife began not with birds, but with a keen interest in reptiles. It was not until my 2012 Honours year when I chose a project looking at the parental defence of the Masked Lapwing; that my passion for wildlife was focussed onto ornithology.

At the end of 2013 I began a PhD candidature at Deakin University under Dr Grainne Maguire and Dr Mike Weston, with a project looking at sex-ratio variation in three species of resident shorebird (Red-capped Plover, Hooded Plover and the ever underappreciated Masked Lapwing). The project has had a substantial field component and I have relished working closely with the birds in the wild, and even developed a passion for wildlife photography.

After having finished my final season of fieldwork (radio-tracking Red-capped Plover broods) I was lucky enough to come on board the Beach-nesting Birds team. So far I have been using the data analysis skills I developed throughout my postgrad to vet and analyse BNB portal data, compile regional nesting summaries and draft this newsletter.

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BIRDLIFE AUSTRALIA INTERN

Jonathon Wilson Hi everyone!, So I have just recently started an internship with Birdlife Australia where I will be working with the Beach-nesting Birds team, to help to organise a conference on the NSW coast to promote endangered beach-nesting bird conservation. I will be working in the Birdlife head office in Melbourne, working on a variety of tasks such as making surveys and contacting caravan parks and stakeholders, to inform them of the conference.

During January and February of 2016, I completed a professional placement at Birdlife for my university studies, where I worked with the Beach-nesting Birds team and did various tasks around the office. One of these was compiling an extensive list of all the caravan parks along the NSW coast, which would then be used to contact the parks to ask them about their environmental awareness and knowledge of beach-nesting birds. At Deakin University, I am in my third year studying Wildlife and Conservation Biology, and so far I have really enjoyed my course and found the content engaging and exciting to learn about. Through university, I have had so many great opportunities such as the Birdlife placement and even a month long trip to Costa Rica where I and about 15 other Deakin students worked in a refuge for sea turtle conservation (see photo). I have really enjoyed my time at Birdlife so far and I am excited to continue working to support endangered beach-nesting birds!

PORTAL CORNER

Renée Mead, Beach-nesting Birds Project Officer In our last Newsletter, we completed a random draw prize for entries that had completed a full update, including threat and print data. We’re happy to say, that Hannah Lethlean, from the Mornington Peninsula (VIC) was the winner, and received a Red-capped Plover cushion cover, which was donated by Ro Kidd of Awesome Aussie Gifts. We hope you like your cushion cover Hannah!

The breeding season showed that there were 7,760 entries for Hooded Plovers, and 732 entries for Red- capped plovers! Great effort to all the volunteers who collect and enter their data! 68% of Hoodie entries had threat assessments completed, and 82% of Red-caps had threat assessments completed. The threat assessments are just as important as the nesting data, so it’s great to see people have been entering the threats and prints that they see!

We’re asking that all portal users have their data entered into the portal (if not already done so) by Monday 18th July. After this date, we will be re-setting the portal, ready for the 2016-2017 breeding season start in August, which means the data will be wiped off (don’t worry – we download the data before this happens)!

The portal is currently undergoing some behind-the-scenes changes! We’re adding Pied and Sooty Oystercatchers, and Beach-stone Curlews – which are exciting additions – now all resident beach-nesting shorebirds are on the portal! Red-capped Plovers are getting some minor updates (to include more detailed threat sections, and management alerts). All of this has been a mammoth task and was started earlier in the year. We’re nearly at testing phase – to make sure that there are no glitches in the system before we launch it to you guys! This will be up and running by mid August, as Hooded Plover breeding season commences. Very exciting times ahead for the Beach-nesting Birds Project! If you have any questions about the online data portal, don't hesitate to ask us by contacting [email protected]

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LEG FLAG DISCOVERIES CO 1 day old with radio-transmitter attached Photo: Dan Lees A LONG WAY TO GO FOR LITTLE CO

Daniel Lees, Beach-nesting Birds Project Officer As part of my PhD on ‘sex-ratio variation in resident shorebirds’ we (Honours student Kristal Kostoglou and I) radio-tracked Red-capped Plover broods to determine parental roles and sex-based chick survival. On the 3rd of September 2015 while conducting fieldwork at the Pt Cook Cheetham Wetlands I found a two egg Red-capped Plover nest. The parents had both already been flagged as part of an ongoing monitoring program and confirmed as CP (female) and CA (male).

The nest hatched sometime between the 28th and 29th of September, only one chick could be seen (the other was presumed perished, fresh tracks suggested a fox was the culprit). The lone chick was caught was ringed with a metal band and had an Advanced Telemetry Systems 0.2 gram radio-transmitter attached. This chick was the first Red-capped Plover chick (of 42 total chicks) I attached a transmitter to.

The chick was radio-tracked with recordings of daily movement observations. The chick was recaptured on the 27th of October and flagged as CO. Radio-tracking of CO and family continued until the 3rd of November when it was 35 days old and capable of flight. After fledging was confirmed radio-tracking was discontinued (thankfully, as chicks’ age they wander further from their natal area and become increasingly difficult to locate). Follow up genetic analysis confirmed CO as a male.

On the 30th of January, 12 weeks after fledging CO was spotted and photographed by Andrew Browne at Sandy Point, Western Port Bay, over 70km from its natal area! We know very little about Red-capped Plover post natal dispersal, making this observation particularly exciting and the longest movement we have on record.

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HOODIE ON HOLIDAY

Daniel Lees, Jodie Dunn, Amy Harris, and Jono Stevenson Jodie Dunn, Shorebird Recovery Coordinator for the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service banded and flagged a pair of Hooded Plovers on the 11th of February 2014 at the Murrah River estuary (South of Barragga Bay on the NSW South coast). The pair was flagged Z8 (female) and R5 (male).

It appeared Z8 and R5 were not to be as Z8 was paired with X1 for the start of the 2015/16 breeding season. It seems R5 had found new love too and was spotted nesting with a new partner. Throughout the 2015/16 breeding season Z8 and X1 had two unsuccessful breeding attempts, the last sighting of Z8 was in late December, North of the Wapengo Lagoon.

On the 3rd of June 2016 Jonathon Stevenson observed and reported a flock of 10 Hooded Plovers on Snake Island. The flock consisted of three adults (including orange flag UH), two sub-adults, two juveniles and the adventurous Z8! She had moved a distance of ~400km as the crow flies, and ~450km as the Hooded Plover flies (presumably along the coast), which is a really exciting discovery for a NSW flagged bird to be found so far west.

Z8’s movement from December 2015 to June 2016

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT:

Richard Stone – Apollo Bay

1. What made you want to volunteer on the Beach-nesting Birds Project and when did you start?

For many years I have enjoyed visiting out of the way places to find and observe our many varied Australian bird species. During those years I found that I enjoyed reading in depth about the different species and photographing them in their own environment. After retiring to Apollo Bay in 2010 I quickly became fascinated by the different beach nesting birds that we have here, especially the Hooded Plover. In the same year I joined the local group of volunteers led by Judi Forrester to monitor the plovers at Barham River. These birds could be seen to be harassed by beach walkers, dogs and foxes and needed protecting.

2. What sort of activities do you undertake as a volunteer?

August is the month I like most when the Double Banded Plovers have their breeding colours before leaving to return to New Zealand, the migratory waders return to Apollo Bay and the Hooded Plovers flock before starting their breeding cycle. Around this time as a volunteer, I record on the Portal at least on a weekly basis the stage reached by the breeding pairs, the flagged birds and any threats that are facing them. Watching out for scrapes, finding the nests and informing the land owners so that they can fence off those areas is the main activity at this time but I also inform local community groups of our actions.

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During the last season the beach nesting team let me have the use of a remote camera to see why our Barham River birds have not been producing fledglings – some interesting images of an adult protecting the eggs from hail were achieved but no conclusive evidence for the lack of fledglings.

3. Whereabouts on the coast do you volunteer?

Our volunteer group covers the Otway Coast from Skenes Creek to Johanna Beach. The section of the coast that I monitor includes five nesting sites at Wild Dog Creek and the Barham River. The birds have different nesting opportunities here such as open sea beaches and river mouths. Over the past five years only the Wild Dog Creek plovers have produced fledglings although there have been many nests, eggs and chicks at Barham River. During the last season at Barham River seven eggs were washed away by the same high tide which was very disappointing but highlighted the problems for the plovers along this stretch of coast.

4. What has been one of your highlights whilst being a BirdLife Australia Friends of the Hooded Plover volunteer?

An absolute highlight was joining the beach nesting team catching, recording, banding and flagging chicks and adult Hooded Plovers at the mouth of Wild Dog Creek, one of our nesting sites. The methods used to catch the birds and being able to hold and release these beautiful little birds took volunteering to a whole new level. Some of those banded birds are still in our areas and I specially watch out for them each season. Thank you to the beach nesting team for that experience.

I would also like to thank our land owners, the Otway Coast Committee and Parks Victoria for fencing our nesting sites and taking an interest in the plight of the hoodies. Also to our volunteer team Judi, Gary, Willie, Ros, Steve, Jenny, Val and Frank.

STUDENT CORNER

EMBRYONIC VOCALISATIONS

Kristal Kostoglou, Deakin University Bachelor of Environmental Science (Honours) Graduate. For some avian species, as hatching date approaches, embryos vocalise whilst within the egg. These sounds are audible to humans and so are likely to be audible to predators. For ground- nesting species that rely on egg camouflage as their main anti- predator defence, embryonic vocalisations may be betraying their location. Little is known about this intriguing characteristic, particularly for shorebirds, which is why I decided to investigate it throughout my honours year!

The main aims of my research project were to 1) characterise embryonic vocalisations emitted from eggs, and determine whether age and temperature influence their nature; and, 2) to test whether these vocalisations are used as an auditory cue by predators to locate nests.

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Throughout September 2015 and February 2016 myself and Daniel Lees (PhD Candidate) located Red- capped Plover (RCP) nests within the beautiful Cheetham Wetlands, Point Cook. I conducted on average two acoustic surveys at each nest over the 30 day incubation period to obtain data from RCP eggs of different ages and temperatures. The results of these surveys showed that embryonic vocalisations only occurred in the late stage of incubation (5-0 days before hatching) and that the nature of vocalisations (i.e. number of calls per recording, minimum and maximum acoustic frequencies [kHz]) can be influenced by age and temperature.

The second half of my project included an artificial nest experiment which compared the survival of nests with or without ‘acoustic cues’ (pre-recorded RCP embryonic vocalisations played continuously). Results highlighted that ravens were the major egg predator of the artificial nests (responsible for 76 % of nests that had eggs taken) but that embryonic vocalisations did not increase the chance of being located and destroyed by predators.

Although embryonic vocalisations did not increase the chance of egg predation in this model system, my results highlighted the complexities of shorebird embryonic vocalisations. I was able to identify a series of valuable future research areas which could further clarify the function (benefits) and costs of embryonic vocalisations in birds. I was extremely appreciative to conduct this study and witness firsthand RCP chicks calling from within the egg (it will never cease to amaze me). I hope to build on the knowledge gained from this study to continue exploring and investigating avian embryonic vocalisations.

This project could not have been conducted without the great help of my supervisors Dr Mike Weston and Dr Grainne Maguire, my field work guru Daniel Lees, and last but not least Photo: Geoff Gates Deakin University and BirdLife Australia.

I’M NO RED-NECK!… AND I THINK I’M A PLOVER?

Glenn Ehmke, BirdLife Australia. The ‘identity crisis’ for Hoodies. BirdLife Australia has recently followed the lead of a number of international species lists and changed the scientific name of Hooded Plovers from the traditionally used Thinornis rubricollis to Thinornis cucullatus. But why are we messing with this name? Well in a few words, because Hoodies are not red-necks! While a detailed investigation of the exact translation of the latin word eludes the capabilities (or patience) of this author, looking up other rubricollis species one finds:

Red-necked Footman (Atolmis rubricollis) - a moth from Europe and north Asia Red-necked Woodpecker (Campephilus rubricollis) - a bird from South America

Notice any patterns?

Ruber certainly refers to red in latin and collis appears to have been applied as necked or throated in biological circumstances (Jobling 2015). So rubricollis basically seems to mean red-necked. But how on earth did Hoodies become to be called red-necks?

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Well it turns out that the seminal work of John Latham's General Synopsis of Birds (Latham 1785) originally described ‘Hoodies’ as a ‘Red-necked Plover’. According to work by McAllan and Christidis (1998) the confusion arose from the use two drawings in the done by William Ellis, an artist on Captain Cook’s third voyage. Latham apparently referenced a drawing of a Red-necked Phalarope during his description of Hoodies and so they got described as having a red neck. See McAllan and Christidis (1998) and Olson (1998) for a detailed discussion of the history. A simple error that has been tolerated in ornithology for > 200 years! Consequently, BirdLife Australia has followed the lead of the Handbook of the Birds of the World (del Hoyo et al. 2014) and The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World (Dickinson et al. 2013), and changed the scientific name of Hooded Plovers from Thinornis rubricollis to Thinornis cucullatus… and what does cucullatus mean? Hooded. Much more sensible! This also brings us into line with official scientific nomenclature of the International Union for Conservation, BirdLife International and the Handbook of the Birds of the World (among other lists). Whereas BirdLife Australia recommends following the lead of international institutions such as the Handbook of the Birds of the world (del Hoyo et al. 2014) and The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World (Dickinson et al. 2013), not all bird lists will necessarily follow suit and there may be some confusion and inconsistencies between government agencies and other organisations.

Potential implications arising front he name change including:

• General confusion re having two scientific names - different field guides, apps, brochures and education materials may have a mix of the 2 scientific names for some time.

• Inconsistencies in scientific literature - there will be a mix of the two names in scientific journals depending on the time the article was written.

• Inconsistencies with state or federal legislation - some legislation may need to be changed.

For the most part however, we use common names for birds and so the scientific name changes do not impact too heavily on day-to-day activities. Just be aware that there are likely to be two scientific names in circulation for a while. Which leads us onto the other “identity” issue of the day.

I’m a plover dam-nit!… aren’t I?

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Those of us who have engaged the general public on Hooded Plover conservation will almost all (to a person) will have uttered words to the effect of “no they are not the birds that nest on the ovals and swoop you. These are little birds that use camouflage and subterfuge to survive”. Fighting the battle to educate people about the difference between lapwings and plovers has been so consuming, we’ve even made specific educational materials about it! So we were a little worried when we were contacted by some folks late last year who informed us that the name Hooded Dotterel was turning up in some materials including local field guides, brochures and even government agencies. It also appears that the current Wikipedia page in fact lists Hoodies as ‘Hooded dotterels’!

So where is this coming from? Well, like the story for the scientific name, there is a bit of a history here. Hoodies have actually used to be referred to as ‘dotterels’ at various times in the past, most recently in the 1970s, at which point lapwings were called plovers. All very confusing! However the recent past has seen Hoodies consistently referred to as plovers in Australia and this is the name almost all Australian’s are familiar with. However the recent move to the name dotterel by some international lists - most notably the IOC list (Gill and Donsker 2008) - caught BirdLife Australia by surprise. There is no rationale for the change given by the lists which have adopted it, however we speculate that it relates to genetic analyses? Once considered in the genus Charadrius (which contains most, but not all, other plovers), genetic analyses in the 1990s suggested that Hoodies, along with the New Zealand endemic Shore Plover actually belonged in their own genus - Thinornis (see Chrisidis and Boles 2008 for a detailed discussion). This may have prompted some international lists to rename these birds dotterels?

However, is this wise? and what is the difference between a plover, a dotterel and a lapwing anyway?

Well, as to the second question, there is no clear definition as to what constitutes a plover, a dotterel or a lapwing. However, in Australia at least there is a sensible biological/ecological distinction between the three ‘members’ of the Plovers, Dotterel and Lapwings’ family (Charadriidae) family. In recent times (say the last 20 years) within the ‘Plovers, Dotterel and Lapwings’ family (Charadriidae) in Australia there are traditionally: • 3 dotterels - Red-kneed Dotterel, Black-fronted Dotterel and Inland Dotterel. • 14 plovers - Grey Plover, Pacific Golden Plover, Red-capped Plover, Double-banded Plover (called Banded Plover in NZ), Lesser Sand Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Oriental Plover and Hooded Plover. There are also 6 vagrants ‘plovers that occur in Australia only occasionally. • 2 lapwings - Banded Lapwing and Masked Lapwing as well as Grey-headed Lapwing which is vagrant.

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These names have been consistently applied to these species for many years now and form the basis of the species’ identities in the hearts and minds of most Australians.

Examining the characteristics of the Australian plovers, dotterel and lapwings we can see that all 14 ‘plovers’ that occur in Australia all have significant coastal distributions. Some are obligate coastal (they only occur on or near coasts - e.g. Greater and Lesser Sand Plovers) while others have some inland distribution (e.g Red-capped Plover). Interestingly Western Hooded Plovers (Thinornis cucullatus tregellasi) have an inland/coastal distribution while Eastern Hooded Plovers (Thinornis cucullatus cucullatus) are strictly coastal. But ALL plovers have significant coastal distributions and concurrent adaptations. Oriental Plovers do occur most commonly inland in Tropical Savannas in Australia, however they do occur on coasts as well.

In contrast all Australian ‘dotterels’ are all strictly (obligate) inland (non-coastal) birds. None of the three Australian dotterels occur in coastal habitats at all (save from the odd occasional record).

Lapwings are also largely inland birds - Banded Lapwings are strictly inland while Masked Lapwings can occur in coastal areas, but are generally found inland. But of course Lapwings have fundamental morphological differences from plovers and dotterels, most notably size as well as behavioural differences (very aggressive nest defence).

So, while Hoodies and Shore Plover (NZ) appear to be genetically distinct from other plovers, there is an argument to delineate plovers and dotterels on the fundamental distributional difference between the birds (inland vs coastal), and let the scientific names and phylogenetic trees reflect the evolutionary relationships in detail.

Put simply:  dotterels are (obligate) inland birds  plovers are (obligate or facultative) coastal birds and  lapwings are… well big and aggressive

Interestingly the New Zealanders have a similar issue with the other member of the Thinornis genus the Critically Endangered Shore Plover. The New Zealanders have retained the traditional name ‘plover’ for Shore Plover on their official lists, despite some international lists using Shore Dotterel. BirdLife Australia has a policy (under the auspices of the English Names Committee) of retaining consistency in names given their fundamental importance in community engagement, protective legislation and science, lest there is a good reason to change. But we think that you should at least have a say in all this given you are the ones doing the lion’s share of the work to help these birds, so please let us know what you think.

P.S. Of course there is a third option for ‘Hoodies’ given how much we use that colloquialization which avoids all confusion. There are plenty of other birds with single names…

References del Hoyo, J.; Collar, N. J.; Christie, D. A.; Elliott, A.; Fishpool, L. D. C. (2014). HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Lynx Editions BirdLife International.

Dickinson E. C. Remsen J. V. and Christidis L. (2013). The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World; Vols. 1 & 2: Non-passerines & Passerines. Aves Press.

Gill, F & D Donsker (2008). IOC World Bird List - http://www.worldbirdnames.org. IOC World Bird Names, version 1.0.

Jobling, J. A. (2015). Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology. In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.) (2015). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from www.hbw.com).

McAllan, I.A.W. & L. Christidis (1998). Neotype of the Hooded Plover Charadrius rubricollis Gmelin, 1789. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists Club. 118:59-61.

Olson, S.L. (1998). Lectotypification of Caradrius ribrubicollis Gmelin, 1789. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 118:256-259

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FROM NSW

FIRST TIME PARENTING LESSONS; TEAM OYKS AND HUMANS - PORT HACKING

Julie Keating and Jo Keohan, Volunteers It was mid-September 2015 when I noticed our resident pair of Pied Oystercatchers (oyks) behaving strangely on the beach. There was an oyk sitting smack, bang in the middle of the beach when they normally worked the tide line. An hour later, the second oyk approached and was tapping on the back of the first oyk, which then arose, and started tapping the sand while walking down towards the water. The second oyk was then left sitting in place of the first. Now that was definitely odd. Things started to click that I was watching something special and I raced towards my bird book to confirm it. They were nesting!

Thus the journey for first time nesters (both birds and volunteers) began.

What to do? Deeban Spit, Port Hacking, being on the southern edge of Sydney and bordering the Royal National Park is a very busy beach. I later learned nesting by oyks on the beach had not been observed in around 20 years. In my naivety, and desperation to help, I rang WIREs asking for someone to come and pick up the eggs so they could be Photo: Julie Keating incubated and chicks returned to the beach once hatched. Lesson 1, oyks are not chickens, you can’t just hatch eggs and let chicks loose again as the oyk parents take an active role in teaching the chicks to feed. With a lot more research and local grapevine knowledge we were able to tap into National Parks and Sutherland Shire Council contacts. This allowed us to scrape up some poles, ropes and signs and access to a volunteer group to manage the nesting site. It was a very nervous first week waiting for all this to come together. Luckily the weather worked for us in that first week as it was quite cold and rainy. Once our site protection arrived, however, the weather let loose. Our first problem was the feral deer that turned up, on cue, the evening the fencing went up. They were looking incredibly confused at having their beach blocked off. Luckily they did not tear down all our efforts with only minor repairs needed the next morning.

Our first nesting, which lasted 15 days, saw us managing the site inclusive of an October long weekend that broke all records. We had temperatures in the mid 30’s with the flow on being record numbers of people in the Royal. Roads into the Park had to be closed because of overcrowding. The most challenging part for us was how to convey the message of the endangered oyks to our various beach user groups. We had no brochures to work with or hand out and had to print and laminate our informational signs to put up around the site. Most people were happy to hear the message and were very supportive of the story. Talking to the dog owners was the hardest. This was a surprising task, as dogs are banned on this particular beach because of the migratory shorebirds that visit. All the work we did paid off in terms of preventing human activities from being the cause of nest failure and educating beach users about the different shorebirds that use our little beach. It was unfortunately a fox that stole the eggs in the middle of the night that ended our efforts.

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It was heartbreaking to watch the Photo: Julie Keating birds the morning after the eggs were taken. They were walking the length of the beach, calling constantly. When they arrived back at the nesting site they both sat down together, dejected. During nesting they had only sat there one at a time, never together. After 10 minutes they got up and continued calling until they reached the other end of the beach before finally realising all was lost when they then flew off together.

It took me two days to get it together to be able to type the note telling volunteers what had happened. Our oyks did come back two weeks later for a second nesting attempt. According to the tracks on the sand, during this nesting our oyks were able to lead the fox on a mixed up chase along the beach saving the eggs the first time it came in. Unfortunately, on its second attempt it managed to again take the eggs. Our oyks did a sterling job for first time nesters. They put up with a crowd of people constantly passing the site and sat panting through extreme temperatures. Unfortunately for the first nesting fox tracks led straight in and out of the nesting site. For the second nesting our oyks had learnt and managed to lead the fox away for its first attack. The fox’s second attempt on the second nesting still showed signs of a struggle, but the oyks were unfortunately no match that time.

Even though we didn’t win this time, we have learnt a massive amount and have all the equipment ready for next nesting season thanks to Sutherland Shire Council plus the signs South Coast Shorebirds were able to spare. Now that we know to expect Oystercatchers coming to nest, we have plans in place to give them their best shot again this year. It all comes down to finding out what to do about excluding foxes in an urban area. Hopes are high! As I write this note I saw a pair of Oystercatchers resting on the beach during our monthly high tide for the first time since the second nesting failed in November. Happy days. Check out our blog from late September to see if we can get a win this year! http://ouroystercatchers.wix.com/shireshorebirds

FROM VICTORIA

FESTIVAL OF GLASS – ENDANGERED MASTERCLASS

Renée Mead, Beach-nesting Birds Project Officer

In February, the Festival of Glass (an initiative of the Photo: Patrick Hughes Drysdale and Clifton Springs Community Association Inc), had a wonderful masterclass highlighting threatened species, the Orange-bellied Parrot and the Hooded Plover. Renowned Glass Blowers, Peter Minson and Mark Elliot had come from NSW to participate in the event, which was designed for participants to learn more about glass blowing as an art, consolidate their skills, and also create awareness of the threatened species at the same time.

13 Photo: Patrick Hughes Mark created the Hooded Plover sculpture, and to watch a gorgeous Hooded Plover appear from hard glass, and the intricate work involved, was incredible. The festival organisers and artists auctioned off the pieces, with proceeds of the Hooded Plover auction going to our Friends of Hooded Plover Bellarine Peninsula group! The Field Naturalists Geelong received proceeds from the sale of the Orange-bellied Parrot. It was a lovely evening, and a great and unique way to highlight the Hooded Plover in the local Bellarine region.

MORNINGTON PENINSULA

Karen Wootton, Volunteer, Friends of the Hooded Plover, Mornington Peninsula Winter has arrived, the hoodies are flocking and volunteers have dispersed to many corners of the globe for a well-deserved break. Our season was been a busy one, due to the size and number of beaches we try to monitor. This year we trialed dividing the MP ocean beaches into 5 territories each with a nominated beach leader. These leaders helped mentor new volunteers, kept an eye on the data portal and helped manage the monitoring of their territory. It worked really well. With new enthusiastic volunteers on board we were able to keep a good eye on most of the beaches. After many years of Hooded Plovers observed at Balnarring our first nest was finally located. Unfortunately after an unleashed dog was observed running into the nesting area and scaring the adult HP off nest, a raven then flew in and ate the eggs.

A couple of disturbing reports from volunteers on the beach this year:  Gunnamatta: children seen chasing and catching Hooded Plover chicks – they apparently thought chicks were baby penguins  Pt. Leo: castle made around Red-capped Plover nest.  St Andrews: woman on horse entering beach via car park then riding along the beach.

Of course the biggest news this year for the Mornington Peninsula is the government’s decision to ban dogs in the National Park from 1 November 2016. This decision had tri-partisan support from Labour, Liberals and the Greens. The Dog Ban will not only benefit all our beach-nesting birds but all flora and fauna in the park (like the White-footed Dunnart and Southern Brown Bandicoot (both EPBC listed as endangered).

With increased interest from local volunteers and rangers on Western Port beaches this year, FoHP have started to monitor Red-capped Plovers (RCPs) as well. RCPs are far more common on these beaches. From East Creek in Point Leo to Honeysuckle West in Shoreham eight separate Red-capped Plover nests were recorded and 5 chicks were noted as fledged. We hope to increase the volunteer group on Western Port next season and get a better understanding of RCP behaviour.

For the sixth consecutive year FoHP had a marquee at Environment Week at the Briars. Volunteers from FoHP manned the marquee from 9am – 2.30pm each day and we had a total of about 800 children who visited us. We are all exhausted by the end of the day and have a great appreciation of the tenacity of primary school teachers.

An off shoot of this week is the many requests we get from teachers to come to their schools and give an educational presentations about Hooded Plovers. We have a good many local children now fully aware of the importance of protecting our National Park and its inhabitants.

Our summer stalls at Boneo market are always fun to be a part of. It is such a relaxed happy holiday atmosphere. We get lots of enquiries about birds – not just hoodies and we have needed to keep more general information about birds at hand.

14 Word about the Hood - Edition 15

‘A windswept shore they make their home, these small birds with spindly legs, who make sandy scrapes and lay freckled eggs, amongst the sand and rocks and foam, they make their home. Where seaweed and shells festoon the beach, there are signs and fences and shelters erected, Friends trying to keep Hooded Plovers protected, to educate, inform and even beseech, Please care for the Hoodies and share the beach.” Karen Wootton

BELLARINE PENINSULA

Andrea Dennett, Coordinator, Friends of the Hooded Plover Bellarine Peninsula In last December's Word about the Hood I mentioned that we were hoping for a fledged chick for the new pair, PC & EH at 42W, 13th Beach for Christmas. I'm happy to report that the chick fledged on Christmas Day and has the honour of being the first fledgling on 13th Beach since January 2007! Local photographer Bec Stephens was out and about recently and observed PC & EH with their now 6 month old chick in the company of PC's former partner AY. It's really great to see the chick going strong and developing its adult plumage.

Photo: Macier 3 Photography

Lake Murtnaghurt (behind the 13th Beach Surf Life Saving Club) is an important flocking / pair-bonding site for hoodies. Recently, members of the Geelong Field Naturalists Club observed a flock of 12 adult and 3 juvenile hooded plovers there, with BL being one of the banded adults present. (BL was banded as an adult at Black Rock in 2012 and is yet to find territory and a partner) (Photo by Chrissy Freestone) At Collendina there has also been a flock of up to 15 hooded plovers present, consisting mostly of local hoodies. This week at Freshwater Lake, near Lake Victoria, Point Lonsdale local volunteer Liz Ferguson and Bellarine BLA members observed 20 Hoodies.

John Murray, Volunteer, Friends of the Hooded Plover Bellarine Peninsula

Mountain to Mouth “Hoodlum Canoedlers, full steam ahead!” On command the hooded plover crew shouldered ‘Canoe’, departed Point Lonsdale and legged it towards Collendina. To carry ‘Canoe’ along the Buckley Park surf beach leg of its 80km Extreme Arts walk – mountain to mouth 2016 was both an honour and a privilege well-earned.

The local shoreline we transported ‘Canoe’ along had the Canoe Carrying team! best Hoodie breeding season in 2015/16. Two Pt Lonsdale chicks survived despite chronic signage

15 vandalism. Further west two Collendina chicks fledged with the help of 32 human allies who shared every two hour shift of daylight for 35 days... Hoodlums indeed – Hoodie lover ultra militants!

Four fledglings all up was a strong reward for the committed work of BirdLife Australia staff and local volunteers, City of Greater Geelong Environment Department and Barwon Coast. It was a nice bonus to finish the season on country, in ceremonial celebration of our beloved Hooded Plovers.

In walking the Mountain to Mouth we contributed to creating a contemporary songline – a pathway across the region of Geelong and the Bellarine inspired by traditional Aboriginal songlines – pathways that for thousands of years have been Canoe sculptors Leonard Tebegetv & Mahony Kiely; Photo: John Murray used to navigate across country through song, story, dance and art.

‘Canoe’ was Mountain to Mouth’s lead processional artwork. Its task was to carry water from the ancient Rockwell at You Yangs Big Rock to the mouth of the Barwon River where the water was returned to the ocean. At each of 12 songline stations along the journey was a walking circle ephemeral artwork where ‘Canoe’ was transferred to the next community group responsible for its passage. Mountain to Mouth has a long term vision to create a green corridor along the 80km walk with plantings of indigenous grasses, shrubs and trees.

I love to go a’ HoodLUMing Along the sandy shore And as I go I say hello To Hoodies I adore Hi HY Hi NZ Hi PL Hi AD-D-D-D-D-D-D My Hoodies I adore Photo: Renee Mead

BREAMLEA

Julie Riley and Jennie Turner, Coordinators, Friends of the Hooded Plover Breamlea

Winter activities for volunteers at Breamlea

How do FoHP volunteers cope with winter withdrawal from hoodie activities? The answer is - more hoodie activities!

Open season on ferals

Finding fox dens along the Breamlea dunes has been a regular winter task for the past few years. Breamlea volunteers have located eleven active dens in the past three years and City of Greater Geelong (CoGG) has fumigated these dens. So far this year, two re-opened dens and one new den have been spotted and currently with the help of a Julie setting up a remote camera. Photo: Jennie Turner wildlife camera, evidence of fox habitation is being gathered before fumigation commences.

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In addition to foxes, cat footprints and sightings are often reported to volunteers who then follow up. The sighting of the pictured feral cat, near a favoured nesting area for one of our pairs, resulted in CoGG placing a cat trap, unfortunately unsuccessfully in this instance. Nevertheless, everyone recognises this is a valuable pre-season activity to maximise our hoodies breeding chances.

Where have all the Hoodies gone?

While enjoying the pleasures of the quiet winter beaches around Breamlea, volunteers have been noting the whereabouts and absences of our resident birds. However, a most surprising observation occurred on the 2nd May. Geoff Gates and Julie Riley sighted five hoodies on the mud flats beside Thompsons Creek, in front of Cahir Park, Breamlea. It was unprecedented to find hoodies so far from the Point Impossible estuary. It is probably the result of the now three- year long creek closure at the mouth that these birds are finding plenty of their favoured food source on the exposed Feral cat caught on remote camera set up by mudflats further upstream. The sighted birds included CP Julie Riley from 46W Breamlea and possibly its new unbanded mate, as well as the unbanded pair who nest from 50W to Point Feral cat caught on remote camera set up by Julie Riley Impossible, plus an unbanded juvenile. Furthermore, this was not a one-off event as a single hoodie has been sighted in the same area as this article goes to press.

BASS COAST

Steve Johnson, Regional Coordinator, Friends of the Hooded Plover Bass Coast

Bass Coast Mainland News From the wonderful coastal townships of Inverloch to San Remo encompassing the stunning Bunurong Coast and pockets of the George Bass Coastal Walk our region exceeded passed records of successful fledglings with 23. A huge spike from poor returns for the previous 4 years were we average 8 fledgling. Exciting as that news was it emerged a bitter sweet season for Bass Coast in that resident pairs at our busy coastal townships of Inverloch, Harmers Haven and Kilcunda despite persistent efforts by both birds and volunteers each of these high visitation beaches failed to deliver a single fledgling. Fox predation in egg takes and human disturbance of the nesting sites took their toll. It is the very presence of these birds providing the opportunity for visitors to observe them in their natural environment which excites the experience of a day on the beach. Will they return next summer? Or give up and try another more isolated location away from the constant human disturbance that comes with coastal towns each summer season.

Foxes and Cats...Some good news! To address the ever present Red Fox problem along our coastline the timing of a Parks Victoria Southern Brown Bandicoot Action Plan within the coastal heathlands could not have come at a better time. Key points of this Action Plan commencing later this year are a 10 year Red Fox control program and 2 year Feral Cat control program. Our nesting pairs on habitat adjacent to the Wonthaggi Heathlands Reserve and Kilcunda-Harmers Haven Coastal Reserve will benefit in the flow on effect from the Bandicoot Action Plan.

Our first season of Fat Bike Tours Finishing on another positive story Bass Coast Fat Bike Tours appeared on our beaches for the first time in the face of scepticism and some social media back lash. But by working in close collaboration with Chris and Laura Baillie the tour proprietors we were able shape the tours into a positive environmental and learning experience for both riders and the birds. Happily I can report the first season passed without a

17 single adverse incident. The following article shares Chris and Laura’s experience of engaging with Hooded Plovers and spreading this threatened beach-nesting birds story.

BIRDS AND BIKES: A LETTER FROM BASS COAST FAT BIKES

Cara and Chris Baillie, Bass Coast Fat Bikes

Hello fellow Plover Lovers!

Chris and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank Birdlife Australia and the local Friends of the Hooded Plover for your education and support as we launched our coastal tourism business this year.

Bass Coast Fat Bikes was created in mid-2015, with the aim to provide a unique cycling experience of the beautiful beaches between Kilcunda and Cape Paterson in Victoria. We provide “Fat bikes” (fat-tyre bikes for cycling on sand) for small groups of cyclists, and lead them on a guided tour of the beaches and off- shore heathlands of the Bass Coast. This coastal area includes many popular nesting sites for Hooded Plovers.

Chris was required to undertake plover training in order to meet permit requirements and developed an interest in these beach-nesting birds from here. We both chose to attend a session on beach-nesting birds run by Birdlife Australia in December 2015, which included a practical component at the local Inverloch beaches. Though these activities, we have developed a basic knowledge of plover behaviour, and we have learnt how tricky it is to spot them! Most importantly, we have met many people who are passionate about protecting these birds, and their enthusiasm is infectious!

The practicalities of co-existing with nesting plovers have been relatively easy to instigate. Firstly, we review the latest coordinates of every known nest in the area prior to a ride and monitor our proximity to these nests via GPS. This has only been possible with the support of Stephen Johnson (Group Coordinator, Friends of the Hooded Plover). In turn, we assist in the monitoring of plover populations by feeding back any changes we notice. Although most riding occurs below the high-tide mark (apart from using standard beach access points), knowing Photo: Steve Johnson the location of nests allows us to slow the group down to avoid disturbing feeding birds.

Secondly, we educate our customers, most of whom are unfamiliar with plovers (the endangered sort, anyway!) at a pre-ride briefing and again along the ride as opportunities arise. This encourages careful and thoughtful use of beaches both on our ride, and during any other beach activities they participate in during their visit to the local area. Photo: Steve Johnson

Our first summer season provided many opportunities to interact with our ever-changing coast line. As the nesting season approached, the beach began to form up into high sand banks which became prime nesting sites for the Hooded Plovers. Early in the season there was some success at the mouth of the Powlett River, with several chicks fledging. This area is becoming increasingly popular to local and visiting

18 Word about the Hood - Edition 15 people, and dogs are frequently seen here. We like to use this as a trigger to educate riders on the effect of dogs on the behaviour of Hoodies, and the necessity of using a lead in nesting season. A happy consequence of cyclists on the beach is that dog-owners usually put their dogs on leads as they see us coming!

The highlight of our season was seeing many chicks fledge from the beaches we cycle on. One lucky tour group came across Steve Johnson during a ride and were able to use his scope to observe a chick from a relaxed distance. It has been lovely to observe how the Hooded Plovers behave on these remote beaches away from large crowds of people in their natural environment.

Overall, we have had an educational and enjoyable first season. We know there has been scepticism in the local community about the effects of bike tourism on the beach-nesting bird population. However, we have created Bass Coast Fat Bikes as an organisation which promotes fitness, adventure, enjoyment of the natural areas we have the privilege to use, and protection of our local natural resources. We believe that showing visitors our beautiful coastline is an important way we can inspire them to care about it!

KILCUNDA LOBSTER FESTIVAL

Georgie Greig, Beach-nesting Birds Project Officer

On January the 24th the Beach-nesting Birds team headed out to the Kilcunda lobster festival.

What a great day it was with kids colouring in, mask making, creating flick flacks and more. Adults were engaged and fascinated to learn about the incredibly dedicated hooded plover breeding pairs that had set up territories along their local beaches.

Whilst we were not amongst the hustle and bustle of the festival many people visited our stall and learnt all about valuable beach environments and the importance of preserving these habitats for hooded plovers and other local species. We even managed to sign up some new volunteers and encourage our furry four legged friends to Photo: Georgie Greig stay leashed on the beaches to minimise disturbance to precious nesting sites.

SHOREBIRD AND WETLAND BIRD INDIGENOUS RANGER WORKSHOPS

Caroline Wilson, BirdLife Australia, Threatened Bird Network BirdLife Australia staff Meg Cullen (Beach-nesting Birds Project), Caroline Wilson (Threatened Bird Network), Deb Sullivan (Waterbirds and Bittern Projects) and Dan Weller (Shorebirds 2020 Project) teamed up with the Port Phillip & Westernport CMA and the West Gippsland CMA to run a series of shorebird and wetland bird Identification training workshops for indigenous rangers from the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC). The workshops were held during March 2 – 4th 2016 at the local Landcare office in Yarram. On the second day of the workshop series, Meg Cullen (Beach- nesting Birds Project) spent the day teaching the rangers all about Beach-nesting birds.

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In the morning, Meg hosted an indoor session at Photo: Mandy Leggett the Landcare office and presented to the rangers on beach-nesting birds, in particular Hooded Plovers. The group learned about Hooded Plover habitats, courting rituals and the wide variety of places these birds choose to nest. Meg also spoke about how to tell if birds have eggs, the types of behaviors they employ to lure possible predators away from their nest, including false brooding (pretending to be sitting on the eggs) or pretending to be injured to make themselves into the preferred target of predators. The group learned that these birds can also take on a predator such as a seagull and drive it away from their chicks.

The group visited Waratah Bay to see an occupied Hooded Plover nesting site, there was a great sense of anticipation from the group and everyone was excited to see the pair of Hooded Plovers with their three chicks. All of the new skills which had been learned in the morning were put to use to spot the Hooded Plovers, and observe them without getting too close. A couple of the group members filled out a beach- nesting birds survey form and made note of behaviours, habitat and potential threats. The group observed the parents remaining close to the chicks watching for danger. The beach was quite busy, so some of the birds protective behaviours were put into action. The rangers from GLaWAC really enjoyed the experience, learned lots, and felt privileged to see a nesting pair of Hooded Plovers (with three chicks!). For some, it was definitely the highlight of the three-day workshop series.

Thank-you to Mandy for also providing information for this article.

PHILLIP ISLAND – SEASON UPDATE

Jon Fallaw, Ranger, Phillip Island Nature Park Phillip Island had 17 chicks fledge in the 2015-16 breeding season, this is the highest total ever recorded. To get this in perspective, this is greater than the average of 15.5 hatched each season for the previous twenty three years (1992 and 2015), the highest previous total was 12, with an annual average of 6 fledged.  The 17 fledged were from 18 pairs (40 nests). There were 93 eggs producing 51 chicks.  The first nest was found on the 7/09/15 at Woolamai Surf Beach which was one day after the first nest was found on the Bass Coast, however, the first chicks were found on the 28/09/15 at Elizabeth Cove suggesting a lay date of 1/09/15.  Ten of the chicks were banded: metal on lower leg with a yellow flag engraved with a black two digit number on the upper leg.  Overall nests were more successful either early or late in the season, 8 chicks fledged on north coast beaches and 9 on south coast beaches, we usually don’t get such an even spread of success.  There were a range of causes of nesting failure; eggs and chicks were lost to unknown predators, dog, cat, kestrel, and as usual raven were ever present early in the season. Nests were washed out and extremely hot weather followed by strong wind and rain in mid-December. Disturbance by people was an issue at Woolamai Surf Beach and along the north coast especially the Bella Vista pair that decided to moved closer to Cowes.

20 Word about the Hood - Edition 15

Where did the chicks fledge? 2 Elizabeth Cove, 1 Red Rocks, 2 Anchorage Rd, 1 Forrest Caves west, 2 Hutchison Beach, 2 Smiths Beach, 2 Berrys Beach, 2 Colonnades, 1 Woolshed Bight, 2 Flynns Reef. Comparing the long term trends; there were 40 nests (average for 23 years = 27) with 93 eggs (average for 23 years = 63). There were 51 chicks (previous best 26, average for 23 years = 15.5), 34 (67% did not fledge). Four chicks fledged before Christmas, of which 3 were sighted off the island soon after: The 2 chick at Elizabeth Cove fledged on the 1/11/15, YLF 21 was seen at 13th Beach Barwon Heads on 17/12/15 and YLF 22 was Jarvis Weston with YLF 27. Photo: Jon Fallaw seen at Cotters Lake near Prom on 5/01/16. The single chick from Red Rocks fledged on the 4/12/15 and sighted at St Andrews on Mornington Peninsula on 11/01/16. There was great excitement and concern when an unbanded pair laid 2 eggs at Smiths Beach just before New Year’s Eve. Bob Baird recalled hoodies regularly on Smiths from 1956 to 1988. He thought that hoodies had left the area due to pressure after ~1988. He described the area towards Express Point that they often bred back then and amazingly this is the same spot they returned to nest almost 30 years later. Volunteers, Chris Larsen and Irene Wright looked after the chicks through the incredibly busy holiday season and were rewarded with 2 fledglings.

The Elizabeth Cove pair had three clutches and there was great concern for the chicks when they were banded. At four weeks old the two chicks were found to be very under developed (32g and 28g). One of the chicks YLF 30 was found dead on the beach by Maurice who had monitored the chicks almost constantly. An autopsy was arranged and the results stated “The fledgling had no sign of disease although I thought its thorax was dorso-ventrally compressed which may indicate a congenital structural deformity. There was no evidence of trauma.” the other chick disappeared at ~52 days old.

Renée Mead (BirdLife BNB team) said that we are aiming to get 0.47 fledged per pair, Phillip Island has trended above this since 2007-08 and was nearly one fledged per pair this season.

Figure: fledged per pair

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Figure: 24 years of monitoring

Many thanks to the dedicated volunteers who put in the hard yards on the beach then filled in the portal and helped out with the dogs breakfast morning. Also, big thank you to the BirdLife BNB team for their help, advice and forwarding on band sightings.

SHIPWRECK COAST

Lynda Avery, Coordinator, Friends of Hooded Plover Shipwreck Coast Bay of Martyrs; Photo: Renee Mead This year the Shipwreck coast Hooded Plovers has a bumper season. Nearly every beach had a pair with some success. Noted is that the pair at the Bay of Martys which have only returned to this site 3 years ago. The beach access steps had been washed out for 18 months were repaired by Parks Victoria just before Christmas which meant people access again onto the beach. One Volunteer took it upon herself to stir me up to put up the HP fence and talk to Parks to increase signage and patrol the beach once, if not twice a day - for the whole time from the scrape making to the flight of 3 very fat healthy chicks.

ROAD TRIP TO SHIPWRECK COAST AND FAR WEST VICTORIA AND CHANGES OVER TIME

Renée Mead, Beach-nesting Birds Project Officer During my trip to the Shipwreck Coast and in January I was so Photo: Renee Mead thrilled to see, that on nearly every beach I went to, there was either a hooded plover nest, or chicks. Things were in full swing, and it was coming up for the Australia day long weekend, so any nest or chicks that I encountered, needed fencing put up, with assistance of Parks Victoria. The chicks at the Bay of Martyrs (mentioned in Lynda’s article above), were the most plump chicks I’ve ever encountered, they appeared to waddle around, rather than run! They were just gorgeous and I was so excited to hear that all three had fledged!

Continuing on the road, the next stop was Warrnambool. Due to the success of the Warrnambool Summer Night market last year, we decided to do it again, letting kids paint their own Red-capped Plover bag. It was a great team helping for the event, with Richard, Erin, Melanie, Robyn, Helen and Graham all assisting.

22 Word about the Hood - Edition 15

Photo: Renee Mead Following the successful event, a number of people came to the beach walk the next day at the Hopkins River Mouth, where participants were treated to seeing a pair of hoodies sitting on a nest. It was a great morning, with volunteers being able to catch up and recruit a few more interested people.

Off to Port Fairy where a walk around Griffith Island confirmed where banded bird “RB” had been hiding! RB was a fledgling in Feb 2014 from nearby Killarney, and was seen with an unbanded partner with a suspected nest (the nest was on a tiny offshore island). So it was great to see that this young bird has taken up territory in Port Fairy.

The next stop, checking the nests and pairs of Killarney, Port Fairy, Yambuk, and Narrawong! I always take photos along the way, mainly of the nesting habitat, and when I returned from this trip, I realised, that there was so much change over the coast in the years I’d been going here (which is only five years). It made me put together the photos of one particular beach – and it really highlights how beneficial photos can be to monitor change – although, fixed site monitoring points are better! Fixed site photo monitoring is where you take photos of a particular habitat, to track changes over time, using the same GPS coordinates/angle to be able to accurately visualise the change in habitat. The photos I have are from December 2011, November 2014, April 2015 and January 2016. Unfortunately they are not consistent photo point monitoring, but it highlights the need for consistency to be able to accurately monitor change. And it’s really interesting (I think so anyway)! If you’re interested in possibly starting a photo monitoring point to see changes in the coast, please contact [email protected] and we can help set you up with instructions on how to do this.

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FROM SOUTH AUSTRALIA

FLEURIEU – COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Emma Stephens, NRM Coast Estuary and Marine Officer It was a very exciting season on the Fleurieu Peninsula with the new Volunteer Regional Coordinators coming on board. Sue and Ashley Read coordinate the Onkaparinga Beaches, Wendy White coordinates Myponga Beach to Cape Jervis, Elizabeth Steele-Collins coordinates the South Coast and David and Sue Thorn assist with coordinating the South Coast and Myponga Beach-Cape Jervis regions. They did a fantastic job with liaising with Councils regarding installation of fencing/signage etc, organising chick wardening (giving out lots of pamphlets etc, talking to local beach walkers and also visitors), ensuring all beaches are being surveyed, recruiting and training up new volunteers, writing media/social media articles….and the list goes on! It’s great to see the VRCs and volunteers working closely together, and to have the VRCs assisting the Natural Resources Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges and BirdLife Australia to implement the program on the Fleurieu.

We also had a number of community engagement activities across the season:

 Hooded Plover information and kids activity stalls at the Port Noarlunga Eco Beach Adventure Day, Yankalilla Area Show, and Whale Time Playtime Festival at Victor. Overall we’ve spoken to approximately 1000+ people at these events, given out over 400 dog leads, and kids have coloured in over 300 hoodie calico bags.  Emma and volunteers Cecilie Siggs and Linda and Jim Stacey presented to the Myponga Beach Property Owner’s Association AGM in March 2016 regarding Hooded Plovers. There were approximately 50 people present. Two local shack owners are keen to be involved with monitoring the

pair at Myponga Beach. Photo: Emma Stephens  On Plover Appreciation Day Elizabeth Steele-Collins and Debbie Prestwood set up at Yilki and talked to walkers by about the Hoodies and also handed out pamphlets.  Wendy White has developed a pamphlet for the local beaches from Myponga Beach to Cape Jervis outlining where the breeding pairs are, banded birds, and breeding success recorded since 2006 (thanks to Ashley Read for summarising this data for the Fleurieu Peninsula!). The pamphlet also includes a fantastic selection of photos taken by the volunteers. The pamphlet will be printed and distributed to local beach walkers and visitors.  End of season event for all Hooded Plover volunteers held at the Normanville Surf Life Saving Club in April 2016. A great night was had with approximately 45 people attending, and presentations were given by Emma, Meg and the Volunteer Regional Coordinators. Friends of the Hooded Plover Fleurieu Peninsula hats were given out at the event for new volunteers.  A number of presentations have been given to a variety of different groups including the NRM Board’s Coastal Ambassadors program, Coastal Officers Forum, and Green Army teams.  New interpretive permanent signage has been installed across the Fleurieu. Big thanks to all the Councils and to Friends of Heysen trail for installing these signs.  Sue and Ash Read were successful with an application for a City of Onkaparinga environmental grant for 3D display models (i.e. lifesize 3D models consisting of 3 pairs of adults, 6 chicks and 9 eggs) and a badge maker for community events. 3 community events were committed to as well as part of this and displaying models etc at a school/library. This project will be run over the 2016/17 season. GRANT TO BE CONFIRMED….but pretty sure we have it.

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 NRM and BirdLife staff met with all Fleurieu Councils to discuss the review of the dog by-law with the Council Regulatory and Environmental staff. The City of Greater Geelong is leading by example with leashing of dogs during the breeding season at regular breeding sites.

SAMPHIRE COAST – RED CAPPED RUMBLE ‘ROUND THE SAMPHIRE COAST

Jean Turner, Samphire Coast Stewardship Project Officer Knowledge about Red-capped Plovers on the Samphire Coast of SA has gone ahead in leaps and bounds during the 2015-16 breeding season. The season got off to a flying start with a workshop at Semaphore South in August. Thirty-three people turned-out on a mild winter’s day to learn more about Red-capped Plovers - 24 people were completely new to the program. Several new volunteers signed up that day and over the summer have gone on to become stalwarts of the program. The workshop finished with a ‘monitoring practice’ session on the beach, with eight of our experienced volunteers mentoring the newcomers. What a thrill to see our first breeding pair for the season - a female Red-cap sitting firmly on a nest in the fore-dune and her very attentive male standing nearby. That pair subsequently hatched 1 chick which we believe fledged. The female turned out to be ‘L8’, banded at Semaphore South in the previous summer. Already we were beginning to see the true value of being able to tell which bird is which on the beach! Photo: Peter Allan

This summer – thanks to extra input from our wonderful volunteers - we dramatically increased the frequency and coverage of Red-capped Plover monitoring across the Samphire Coast and beyond. More intensive, coordinated monitoring at metropolitan beaches revealed a lot about Red-cap breeding effort, nesting successes and failures. Hoodie volunteers are also assisting and are helping to fill in the bigger picture, reporting on Red-capped Plovers they see along the southern Fleurieu sites.

Breeding success at two busy metropolitan beaches was closely related to extra site management by volunteers. Without roped-off nest sites and signs, it’s hard to believe that birds could have defended their nests and endured the disturbance pressure of people, dogs and cars through to chick hatching. Peter Allen’s photo of a nest site at Moana Beach says it all. This year for the first time we recruited a

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Red-capped Plover volunteer Intern, Matt Angrave. Matt is studying environmental sciences at Flinders University and has been a tremendous help with monitoring birds, reccies at banding sites, data portal management and drafting an information flier on our local Red-caps.

Dan Lees and Kasun Ekanayake trekked over from Melbourne in December and January to band Red- capped Plovers through BirdLife Australia’s Beach-nesting Birds research program. We now have 15 individual birds with orange leg flags in the Samphire Coast area, including our first banded and flagged family group of 2 adults and 2 chicks. Thanks to the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board for funding the banding work – it has enabled us to learn so much more about the lifestyles of our local Red-caps. While Dan and Kasun were here, we milked their expert knowledge on Red-caps at our first-ever ‘Dog’s Breakfast’ events at Semaphore South. Assisted again by our tireless volunteers, we gave the doggies new leads and bite-sized treats, while chatting to their owners about the local Red-capped Plovers and the importance of keeping their dogs on leads during the shorebird breeding season. We’ve had some terrific positive results from this direct contact with the local beach-goers. We also received great support from local media through an interested ABC News Journalist who wrote a timely article for the ABC online news: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-18/following-the-fragile- plight-of-adelaides-red-capped-plover/7094664

Finally, it was ‘standing room only’ at the season wind-up in April at Port Adelaide. Twenty-six volunteers joined us to celebrate our Red-capped Plovers and the monitoring effort put in over this breeding season!

Season Summary Monitoring effort:  473 separate observations in the Red-capped Plover portal  37 sites monitored – from Parham to Goolwa  27 volunteers contributing portal submissions  13 sites where breeding was observed (out of 37 sites)

Breeding effort:  23 Nests found  42 Eggs @ 23 Nests  20 Chicks hatched  Fledglings - 3 x confirmed, 3 x possible. Photo: A new sign heading up Port Wakefield Road to the Breeding success: Samphire Coast shows just how popular Red-caps have become … but frankly, I think it’s far too cheap for such an  42 eggs to 20 chicks = 47% hatching success endearing and resilient little shorebird! –Jean Turner  20 chicks to 3 fledglings = 15% recruitment  20 chicks to 6 fledglings = 30% recruitment

T FOR TENACIOUS: THE AMAZING STORY OF T1 & CO. - SAMPHIRE COAST

Aleisa Lamanna, Samphire Coast Icon Project Coordinator Semaphore Beach is a busy Metro Adelaide beach, and at the south end is an equally busy breeding area for the smallest of the beach nesting birds, the Red-capped Plovers. This is the story of survival and perseverance for a nesting pair and their chick at Semaphore South, Adelaide.

It was two days before Christmas and the weather in Adelaide was scorching hot. Thanks to a handful of dedicated Red-capped monitoring volunteers and BirdLife Project Staff we had found and monitored 2 nests already at this site and 3 others along the same stretch of beach less than 2 kilometers away. As a known hot spot for nesting Red-caps, one last survey of the beach before Christmas was in order. The nests thus far had all been located within the hind dunes or on-top of large man-made sand piles that

26 Word about the Hood - Edition 15 replicated dunes where beach erosion is an issue. So when a nest with 2 eggs was located further down the dune closer to the water, in fact, almost smack bang in the middle of beach, it was quite a surprise!

Not only was this nesting location in a very high traffic area for beach goers but it also had the added bonus of being directly in the DROP ZONE of a local sky-diving company. Their landing target appearing to be within meters of the nest! As luck would have it the nest was spotted just as the Sky-diving Club was putting out their witches hats to designate the drop-zone. After speaking with a staff member and informing her of the nest she agreed to move the landing target but it was still too close for comfort at 7 or 8 meters away.

Photo: Proximity of drop zone to nest; Aleisa Photo: Sky-divers at Semaphore Beach; Aleisa Lamanna Lamanna

Less than 8 m

With the impending threats of more sky-divers and increased beach activity around Christmas the chance of survival for this nest was looking slim. So, at 7am on Christmas morning a temporary protective fence was installed around the nest with minimal, hand-written signage requesting beach goers to be please avoid the area.

Fencing and banding The fence remained intact with few footprints in the fenced-off area for 3 days… until the rope was stolen. Back to the hardware store, this time garden twine would be the rope of choice as who would want to steal garden twine? This worked and the nest remained relatively undisturbed for another couple of days until a few stakes were broken and the signage ripped out. Not to worry, dedicated and fast thinking volunteers to the rescue and we had a new, make-shift, repaired fence back up in no time. Unfortunately it wasn’t the last repair job for this fence but throughout the next 3 weeks we persevered as did the nesting Red-capped Plovers and did our best to mitigate as many threats as possible to see the 2 eggs through to hatching. Nearing the end of the incubation period two researchers from Deakin University were able to join the Red-capped Monitoring team for a few days to help catch, band, and put leg flags on the nesting birds. This would be our second season conducting banding research and so we were looking forward to getting more birds with individual leg-flags as we had learned so much from the ones banded in the previous year. The nest within the fenced off area at Semaphore South was the first nesting pair we aimed to catch and band. We met at the beach in the morning, checked the temperature to make sure we were within the limits of our ethics permit, yep, all okay, we proceeded to catch the female. Everything went well and our nesting female now had an orange flag with T1 inscribed. We backed away to let her return to her nest and moved on to look for other nests in the area.

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Papa to the rescue Later that afternoon we returned to find female T1 unhappy Photo: Mary-ann Trigt with her new leg flag and not sitting on the nest. Worry took over within the Red-cap monitoring team but we were thankfully reassured when the male partner of T1 took over incubating the nest. Over the next couple of days we monitored both T1 and the nest very closely. T1 was still not taking kindly to her leg flag and while her male partner seemed to have taken over day and night incubation we waited in trepidation hoping the eggs would make it through as hatching was any day now. More stress for the nesting pair was to come with very strong SW winds arriving one evening - will the eggs survive the cool change and with only one bird willing to incubate? A check first thing the next day after the storm had passed and initially the nest could not be found. A lot of sand drift after the storm and the nest was presumed buried. Sadness amongst the volunteers, but wait! Finally spotted, it’s the nest, still 2 eggs, some sand drift, neither bird incubating but we later rejoice to find the male has returned to incubate again. There is hope once again for this nest. 3 days later, amazingly, 2 eggs hatch and 2 tiny chicks make their way up into the sand dunes behind the fenced off area where they hatched from. Mother, T1 is back on the scene and both parents are observed brooding and supervising the chicks.

And then there were chicks Photo: Mary-ann Trigt The two Red-capped Plover chicks were monitored regularly by volunteers, almost daily by one fantastic volunteer. Truly a huge effort with photos and portal entries which provided regular updates on how the chicks were progressing. At three weeks old, both chicks appeared to be faring well, foraging under more distant supervision of parents. It was at this time we decided to remove the protective fence as the family was no longer using this area as refuge. Only another week or two until we predicted the chicks would fledge and things were looking good. Unfortunately it was around this time that one of the chicks disappeared without a trace, presumed taken by a predator but unable to confirm. One chick left for this amazing pair of Red-capped Plovers and after enduring so Photo: Mary-ann Trigt much all eyes were on the chick as it began to show signs of fledging. Intensive monitoring effort was in order to see “first flight” and confirm fledging.

Thankfully, volunteers finally observe the chick take a short flight to avoid a dog. It can fly! Success!!! What did it take? A pair of diligent and protective Red-capped Plovers, dedication from 11+ volunteers, reporting & photographing, engaging with beach users to encourage positive behaviours and 95+ portal records for this site alone.

FLEURIEU – WARDENING AT ALDINGA BEACH

Neville Hudson, Sue Read and Ash Read, Friends of Hooded Plover Fleurieu Peninsula On September 10th 2015 we found ourselves in the unusual position of having a pair of hoodies build a nest on the section of Aldinga Beach where vehicles were permitted. The beach is closed to vehicles between May and October, so when the nest had started, vehicles were not present on the beach. The nest was fenced and council staff from the City of Onkaparinga installed bunting across the vehicle access point to the beach to deter illegal vehicle access and hence provide added protection for the nest. Cars were legally permitted on the beach from October 1st, about a week before the eggs were due to hatch. This posed increased problems for the nesting pair as vehicles began parking right up against the

28 Word about the Hood - Edition 15 rope fence enclosing the nest site, increasing the risk that the disturbance would cause the birds to either be off the nest for too long a time or even abandon it entirely. A few days later council staff along with our volunteers increased the size of the roped area to give the birds more room. However people still parked there and even unloaded equipment from their cars into the fenced area.

On 6th October we suspected that the chicks had hatched and a confirmed sighting was made the following day. It was anticipated that the approaching weekend would bring a large increase in vehicle numbers, so in consultation with council staff it was decided to install temporary bollards and bunting with “No Parking” signs attached in front of the fenced area so that the chicks would have safer access to the water’s edge when foraging (one consequence of vehicles driving on the beach is that food resources are virtually restricted to the wet areas of the beach). The use of portable bollards enabled the council staff to vary the size of the area during the day, so that vehicle access was still possible at high tide. (photo) This proved to be successful, with the chicks observed foraging with their parents at the water’s edge, then retreating back into the No Parking; Photo: Sue and Ash Read fenced area when disturbed.

On Saturday morning (10th October) a small-scale monitoring effort was organised amongst our volunteers. It was low tide, so the portable bollards, bunting and signs were moved forward. This resulted in a high level of compliance from vehicle owners and there were no vehicle parked in the exclusion area. However only a single chick was sighted and it had moved with one of its parents to near the top of the beach about 170m south of the exclusion area. There were no footprints in the fenced area and it became apparent that they had spent the night near where we found them in the morning. After several hours it became apparent that the parent and chick were not going to move back to the fenced area so we decided to move the bollards and bunting back to the edge of the fenced area. Neither the parent nor chick were seen again that morning and in the afternoon it was noticed that with the bollards moved back to the fence, vehicles were again parking there despite the No Parking signs. A search the next day located both parents away from the fenced area, but there was no sign of the chick and unfortunately the adults’ behaviour indicated that their chick was no longer present.

Despite the fact that the chicks did not survive, it was a big achievement for the nest to survive and chicks to hatch under such conditions. It was a good awareness raising event for the wider community and it was fantastic to have City of Onkaparinga’s support as always, and willingness to try new management techniques.

Photo: Neville Hudson

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EYRE PENINSULA

Kasun and Renée, Beach-nesting Birds Project Officers BirdLife Australia has been heading out to the Eyre Peninsula over the last 6 months to run training workshops, professional development workshops, school education sessions, and have been banding hoodies!

Kasun went in December, after finishing his PhD, which was the first time he’d been to Eyre Peninsula. He started off in Whyalla, delivering school presentations on Red-capped Plovers, which the kids loved – they asked a million questions of the cute little bird they had seen in the pictures! Great start!

The next day, he headed south to Port Lincoln for four days, meeting passionate volunteers monitoring Hooded Plovers on beaches as far north as Port Gibbon, and as far west as Elliston. Two presentations were delivered, to school kids, teachers, volunteers and Natural Resources Eyre Peninsula staff and the newly re-vamped Beach-nesting Birds Education Kit was given out.

After one of these presentations at Port Hally’s Beach in Streaky Bay, which provide ideal habitat for nesting Neill, some keen volunteers and Kasun Hooded Plovers. Photo: Kasun Ekanayake headed down to the Port Neill Surfers Beach to have a look at the resident pair of Hooded Plovers. They observed from a distance and the pair had a chick which looked almost as big as an adult and according to our volunteers, had already fledged but was still hanging out with its parents. It was here that the first adult Hooded Plover for the Eyre Peninsula was banded (Hooray!!). The volunteers were elated and the bird was aptly fitted with the flag “EP”.

The last stop for Kasun was Streaky Bay. Streaky Bay is a beautiful tiny township with some stunning wide beaches ideal for nesting Hooded Plovers. Unfortunately the weather was not conductive of trapping at all, it was too windy to attempt to catch the resident pair of hooded plovers here!

Following on from Kasuns trip in December, Renee was headed over to Ceduna in March for another Beach-nesting Birds workshop and some school visits! Hoodies were also being banded as part of the second trip – as Kasun had Photo: G Turner banded the first Hoodie on the Eyre Peninsula, Renee and Greg Kerr (Natural Resources Eyre Peninsula consultant) managed to band the westernmost Hoodie, which was very exciting, as this was about an hour and a half west of Ceduna itself – so it will be very fascinating to see where it goes in the non hoodie breeding season, and also to analyse it’s DNA!

The Ceduna workshop gathered some really keen participants. Unfortunately on day 1 of the workshop, it was over 40 degrees and not ideal for a field trip, and the second day, had completely changed, to rain, hail and storms! So much for escaping Melbourne’s weird weather! But that’s okay, the participants have been really keen and have been entering their sightings on the online data portal over the summer, so it’s great to get more information on the westernmost populations of the Eastern Hooded Plover.

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With two full days of kids presentations at Elliston, Cummins and Tumby Bay schools, Renee was able to get nearly 200 students from prep – year 9 interested in Hooded Plover and beach-nesting bird conservation. It was so heartening to hear how many of the kids had already seen the Hooded Plovers on their local beaches, and having them take notice and start to think about what they can do, to help protect the species while their visiting their local beaches. Photo: Rachael Kannussaar We managed to band and flag 17 Hooded Plovers, 10 adults, 2 juveniles and 5 chicks on the Eyre Peninsula (3 chicks were not given flags due to their weight). There was a lot fit into the two short trips for Beach-nesting birds, and it was great to meet the passionate volunteers who look after the Hoodies on the Eyre Peninsula.

SAVE THE DATES IN 2016

September 16th: Plover Appreciation Day

November 19-20th: Biennial Count

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BirdLife Australia’s Beach-nesting Birds Project is funded from a range of sources including the State Government of Victoria, The Hugh D. T. Williamson Foundation, Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges NRM, Natural Resources Eyre Peninsula, Bill Holsworth, the Australian Government’s 25th Anniversary Landcare grants and the generous donations of BirdLife Australia members and supporters.

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