Hooded Plover
‘Thinornis rubricollis’
The Synopsis
Hooded Plovers are a bird which used to live on the coast of most beaches from south Australia to western Australian. Some of the problems we had while researching were getting the birds confused with the red cap hooded plover. The steps we took to stop this was to have a good long look at the suspected bird and get everyone to have a good long look. Another problem we had we that we
were looking ahead and could have easily trotted on the eggs, without realising it. We fixed this just by being extra carful.
Aim
Today with our research we are trying to find out the breeding success, habit dangers and their threats. The research is important as it will go to an excel database and scientists will use it in the future to help save the hooded plover. We are looking for a way to try and stop there also certain extinction. We are looking for a way to raise the breeding success, slow habit destruction and stop the predators having such an easy time of picking them off.
Method
We will be choosing a beach with a foredune as they will live around there. We will set five jobs. One is the scribe how will collect the notes on everything from threats, broken eggs and their population. The second job is the GPS operator this job will require them to mark all the spots where nests are spotted and the actual birds are found. 3rd is the threat observer, this task will require them good eyes and them reporting what they saw to the scribe. 4th is the camera operator how will take lots of photos of threats and the birds. Threats involve, dune boards, runners car and there tracks, dogs, trial bikes , foot prints, birds and beach cricket. The last is video recording where they will record movement and threats this data will all be collected and put in a prepared data excel sheet. Some of the problems we had while researching were getting the birds confused with a red cap hooded plover, these birds are smaller and they have black legs but at a distance they can be confused. The steps we took to stop this was have a good hard look and use all the eyes and have a double check.
Results
Today we saw two hooded plovers on a beach that was around 21.5ºC and had 15% cloud cover and the beach was pretty wavey and had a lot of seaweed. We started and 1:25 and finished at 2:15, there was no rain. But there were tyre tracks and other birds. Group 4 did this on the same day and saw three birds, although they did this in the morning. It was the same temperature with no cloud cover and they were on west beach with 4WD. The hypothesis I can draw from this is that the birds survive better on beaches with no 4WD tracks as the tracks can destroy their nest and can occasionally hit the birds. Group 5 went on west gate beach with again had no 4WD tracks and they saw 4 hooded plover. Again more the group 2 how went on Pondalowie bay with 4WD tracks. Hayden May saw a mother and her chick at Emu beach and the presents of a chick on a beach with no 4WD that is very isolate, was always going to happen as the chance of chicks growing on Pondalowie bay one of the busiest beaches on the Yorkes peninsula with cars is very, very little.
Discussion
What we have discovered today about the hooded plovers is that there are very few and for the hooded plovers to survive means that many things will have to be done in a short amount of time or there will be none left. From what we discovered today, the major causes for the hooded for the hooded plovers vulnerability is the car tracks, runners and joggers, dogs and sea birds. The situation of the hooded plover has become very serious indeed and needs some fixing. These causes (above) have been happening over a long period time but is getting worse as 80% of Australia’s population now live on Australia’s coastline. And there are now very few untouched coast lines around Australia.
Conclusion
‘Thinornis rubricollis’
The Synopsis
Hooded Plovers are a bird which used to live on the coast of most beaches from south Australia to western Australian. Some of the problems we had while researching were getting the birds confused with the red cap hooded plover. The steps we took to stop this was to have a good long look at the suspected bird and get everyone to have a good long look. Another problem we had we that we
were looking ahead and could have easily trotted on the eggs, without realising it. We fixed this just by being extra carful.Aim
Today with our research we are trying to find out the breeding success, habit dangers and their threats. The research is important as it will go to an excel database and scientists will use it in the future to help save the hooded plover. We are looking for a way to try and stop there also certain extinction. We are looking for a way to raise the breeding success, slow habit destruction and stop the predators having such an easy time of picking them off.
Method
We will be choosing a beach with a foredune as they will live around there. We will set five jobs. One is the scribe how will collect the notes on everything from threats, broken eggs and their population. The second job is the GPS operator this job will require them to mark all the spots where nests are spotted and the actual birds are found. 3rd is the threat observer, this task will require them good eyes and them reporting what they saw to the scribe. 4th is the camera operator how will take lots of photos of threats and the birds. Threats involve, dune boards, runners car and there tracks, dogs, trial bikes , foot prints, birds and beach cricket. The last is video recording where they will record movement and threats this data will all be collected and put in a prepared data excel sheet. Some of the problems we had while researching were getting the birds confused with a red cap hooded plover, these birds are smaller and they have black legs but at a distance they can be confused. The steps we took to stop this was have a good hard look and use all the eyes and have a double check.
Results
Today we saw two hooded plovers on a beach that was around 21.5ºC and had 15% cloud cover and the beach was pretty wavey and had a lot of seaweed. We started and 1:25 and finished at 2:15, there was no rain. But there were tyre tracks and other birds. Group 4 did this on the same day and saw three birds, although they did this in the morning. It was the same temperature with no cloud cover and they were on west beach with 4WD. The hypothesis I can draw from this is that the birds survive better on beaches with no 4WD tracks as the tracks can destroy their nest and can occasionally hit the birds. Group 5 went on west gate beach with again had no 4WD tracks and they saw 4 hooded plover. Again more the group 2 how went on Pondalowie bay with 4WD tracks. Hayden May saw a mother and her chick at Emu beach and the presents of a chick on a beach with no 4WD that is very isolate, was always going to happen as the chance of chicks growing on Pondalowie bay one of the busiest beaches on the Yorkes peninsula with cars is very, very little.
Discussion
What we have discovered today about the hooded plovers is that there are very few and for the hooded plovers to survive means that many things will have to be done in a short amount of time or there will be none left. From what we discovered today, the major causes for the hooded for the hooded plovers vulnerability is the car tracks, runners and joggers, dogs and sea birds. The situation of the hooded plover has become very serious indeed and needs some fixing. These causes (above) have been happening over a long period time but is getting worse as 80% of Australia’s population now live on Australia’s coastline. And there are now very few untouched coast lines around Australia.
Conclusion
All the problems that have been referred to need some serious thinking and consideration. Some of the solutions that need to be drawn fast are, driving on beaches where driving it is allowed, should be made not allowed. More signage is needed to help give people awareness that there are hooded plover eggs there, and to give more vision to the ground. Another alternative is having dog free beaches, as the dogs sniff around run ahead, they sometimes eat the birds themselves or their eggs. This is a drastic approach but is needed to be done if you are serous about saving the animal. A solution which we should all take on board is just general care, when walking on the beach, it is really not that hard. The government and charities for the birds need 
to take action and even some of the public would be a great help in there survival. If this is
to take action and even some of the public would be a great help in there survival. If this is followed up correctly everyone will notice more birds and no one will need to check. All of this is
very important if we want to save this bird
Hi Sam,
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting the link in the correct location!
Great picture! I think you have the best close up Ive seen this trip!!
Good report!
Very informative with good observational descriptions.
Well done for
-structuring sentences in your conclusion with: If we want to ...... then we need to [these are very good scientific thoughts]. Nice work!
-including a sound description of the species and the threats.
Sam you are fortunate to have seen the Hooded Plover, not many people have. You will have to look out for them and show people on the beaches such as: Aldinga, Normanville, Tunkalila, Parsons, Waitpinga, Goolwa and Boomer.
Charlie all the best with your senior education back in Kent Town.
JE
Hooded Plover Researcher
Hi Sam,
ReplyDeleteI seem to recall that mum and I had to be careful not to squash eggs for hodded plovers on the east coast of Tasmania. Is this correct or a different species? Dad