 Many different types of birds live in Australia’s coastal areas — gulls, terns, cormorants and shorebirds, to name a handful — but only a few of them actually nest on the beach.
What are they?
There are five species of Australian shorebirds which nest only or usually on the beach.
- Hooded Plover
- Red-capped Plover
- Pied Oystercatcher
- Sooty Oystercatcher
- Beach Stone-curlew
A few other shorebirds can also sometimes be seen nesting on beaches
- Masked Lapwing
- Bush Stone-curlew
We tend to think of beaches being covered in clean white sand, but not all beaches are sandy. Beach-nesting birds live on many different types of beaches. Sooty Oystercatchers prefer rocky coasts, where they search for food among the rocks. Pied Oystercatchers are more likely to be seen on sandy beaches where there are a few rocks about as well. Beach Stone-curlews usually live on sheltered beaches with muddy sand and mangroves growing nearby. Red-capped Plovers are often seen on sheltered muddy shores, but they also occur on sandy ones, and are abundant around wetlands, both saline and freshwater. Hooded Plovers (in their eastern range) only occur on sandy beaches that are exposed to the ocean swells and backed by sand dunes; of course, these beaches are where most people choose to go. In Western Australia, they also nest inland around salt lakes and therefore have a different set of threats.
Beach-nesting birds, including Hooded Plovers, lay their eggs directly on the sand in a simple, shallow nest scrape. The nest can be anywhere above the high-tide mark, on the beach or in the dunes. Some other beach-nesting species, particularly oystercatchers, may also nest in rocky areas and on offshore islands.
Why are beach-nesting birds threatened?
The greatest threat to Australia’s beach-nesting birds is disturbance from people visiting the beach. This disturbance is greatest in spring and summer, when the beach-nesting birds usually lay their eggs, coinciding with the peak period of recreational use of beaches.
Hooded Plovers are the most threatened of them all, as they are the birds which inhabit the beaches most people like to visit. Their eggs are small (about the size of a 20-cent piece) and very well camouflaged, so they are easily trodden on by accident. Further, if the incubating adult is scared off the nest by passers-by, the eggs may literally bake in the sun, or become too cold in the cool weather; either way, it kills the chick developing in the egg, and the egg will not hatch. Similarly, when people disturb a fluffy chick, it quickly runs into the sand dunes and hides. While it is running, the chick uses up valuable energy, and while it is hiding it is unable to feed (they usually forage at the water’s edge), so that a chick that is forced to run and hide throughout the day because of human disturbance could easily starve.
For the younger birders
 Today’s young birders are tomorrow’s conservationists. Because education is one of the best tools in our efforts to save the Hooded Plover, it is important to ensure that young people understand that they can help. To allow kids to step into the shoes of a Hooded Plover, check out The Wing Thing, a kid-friendly magazine and webpage to fire their imagination.
Beach-nesting Birds Team
Birds Australia has a strongly established project for protecting beach-nesting birds running since 2006, through funding from the Victorian Investment Framework, Caring for our Country, the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges NRM Board and South Australian NRM. The Beach-nesting Birds team consists of:
Grainne Maguire, Project Manager
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Mobile: 0400 910 761
Management advice, nest protection response, data analysis and requests, research, banding program, funding, submissions, field visits (Far West, Bass Coast), Interstate program
Meghan Cullen, Project Officer
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Mobile: 0437 787 985
Volunteer coordination, events, talks, nest reports, nest protection response, school talks and activities, field visits (Bellarine)
 Chris Purnell, Project Officer
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Office Phone: (03) 9347 0757
Volunteer coordination, events, talks, media, website info, nest protection response, field visits (Far West, Mornington Peninsula, Gippsland)
Kasun Ekanayake, Project Officer
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Office Phone: (03) 9347 0757
Monitoring nests using infrared cameras
Researchers at Birds Australia are using Scout guard motion-activated cameras that use infra-red sensors to monitor nest fates of Hooded Plovers. Below are some images from a trial at a nest at Port Fairy in February 2010. The nest had three eggs and endured visits from a fox and a raven, showing how well camouflaged the eggs are. There were other visitors to the nest, including a Singing Honeyeater, Willie Wagtail, Magpie-lark and White-fronted Chat, but as the nest is at a remote site, people and dogs were not present. This nest successfully hatched and fledged two chicks.
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Chick Shelters
If chicks get caught out and are unable to make it into the dunes when danger appears, they often crouch beside a clump of seaweed or driftwood. This is when they are vulnerable to being trodden on. We have provided wooden chick shelters on some beaches for extra protection for the chicks to use as alternative hiding places. If you see a chick shelter on the beach, please keep clear of it.
Changing attitudes
People using the beach need to change their behaviour to allow the beach-nesting birds to survive. Although people and dogs are a big threat, most people and leashed dogs are predictable when they walk along the beach — typically in a straight line and by the water's edge — it is unleashed dogs which provide a bigger threat. An unleashed dog is more likely to explore and to move unpredictably from the water to the upper beach, or even into the dunes, where they are likely to encounter the eggs or hiding chicks, and to accidentally step on and crush them. 4WD vehicles driven along the beach can easily crush eggs or chicks without the driver even knowing. Dune boarding and people walking through the dunes also pose threats to these birds, and ultimately lead to erosion control measures which also reduce nesting habitat suitability.
Birds Australia is working hard with a team of volunteers and coastal land managers to ensure that most nests in highly disturbed areas are well signed and often fenced. This helps beach users know when they need to alter their behaviour. Not every nest will be signed though, so look out instead for signs at access points that tell you Hooded Plovers are present.
Where are Hoodies in my local area?
 Victoria
Download a map of where you can find Hooded Plover pairs in your area:
Port Fairy - Killarney
Warrnambool
Anglesea - Apollo Bay
Bellarine Peninsula
Point Lonsdale
Koonya - Portsea
Rye
West Gippsland - Wonthaggi
West Gippsland - Inverloch
West Gippsland - Venus Bay
NSW
For more information about Hooded Plovers and threatened shorebirds in NSW click here.
South Australia
Lots of work is happening in various parts of South Australia:
- Fleurieu Peninsula through the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges NRM Board
- Eyre Peninsula through the Eyre Peninsula NRM Board and the Scoping the Shoreline project
- South East South Australia through Friends of the Shorebirds South East
Easy ways to Help
The easiest way to help is to change your behaviour while you are on the beach.
- Look out for signs at access points or on the beach that alert you to the presence of nesting birds, and follow the guidelines on the sign
- If you see a Hooded Plover on the beach, walk on another 100 metres before settling on the sand.
- Access the beach via defined paths — no shortcuts through the dunes
- Avoid the dunes and upper beach, and walk along the water’s edge
- Keep your dog on a leash. If it must be off-leash, find out which beaches are free of nesting birds and have off-leash access. Always walk your dog on a leash if there are nesting birds; don’t leave your dog unattended while you are surfing or swimming.
- If you ride a horse along the beach, keep to the wet sand near the water’s edge.
- If you drive on the beach (in states where this is legal), only do it at low tide, and drive slowly as close to the water’s edge as is safe; keep off the beach in breeding season.
 What more can I do?
If you would like to be kept informed of how the Hooded Plovers are doing in your area or how they compare with Hooded Plovers elsewhere, we can email you updates or let you know of contacts in your local area. If you would like to become involved in active conservation of the species or monitoring breeding pairs, please contact
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, Project Manager.
There are to help beach-nesting birds. Why not become a Hooded Plover volunteer? It takes just 5 easy steps.
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