Identification and recording of coastal birds for bushwalkers - Portland BirdLife Australia's Beach-nesting Birds team is training bushwalkers to record sightings of Hooded Plover and Eastern Ground Parrot in VIC

And Portland on 26th March 10AM!
Join us! There will be a couple of talks and a beach walk where we'll hopefully see some #HoodedPlovers! Lunch is provided 😋🍲🙃

@BirdlifeOz acknowledges the support of @Coastcare_Vic and the Victorian Government.

2/3 But this is not a unique behaviour of #HoodedPlovers! Plovers are masters of deception and adults perform distraction displays to attract intruders and keep them away from nests, like this Kentish Plover in the pic.
#PloverAppreciationDay #MyPloverStory
📷@GomezSerrano_MA

Are hikes in remote coastal areas your thing? This one’s for you!

Our new project will train hikers to report sightings of #HoodedPlovers and Eastern #GroundParrots in isolated spots of the VIC coast. Free workshops & resources coming soon! Stay tuned! #birding #hiking #CitSci

1⃣ The @BirdlifeOz's BNB Program started working with #HoodedPlovers across Victoria – but now, we have projects across Australia and on a range of beach dependent species -

#15YearsBNB #ThinkBeachBirds

Several decades ago, #HoodedPlovers were in major decline across Australia, as the Australasian Wader Study Group’s long-term 'biennial' counts from the 1980s onward were showing.

#15YearsBNB

What an amazing outcome! It's always so encouraging and rewarding to see how on-ground management actions help #HoodedPlovers succeed on busy beaches. Great effort and work everyone involved!
#MindTheHoodies #ShareTheShore

We have caught #HoodedPlovers now as far west as Discovery Bay and as far east as Corner Inlet. We have one more expedition to go and we’ll have a comprehensive set from across the VIC coast!
#MindTheHoodies #ThinkBeachBirds

📷 YS White, Otway coast. @GrainneMaguire7

#ThursdayThread
Meet some of the #HoodedPlovers that our team has recently banded along VIC’s with funding support from @DELWP_Vic’s Icon Species Fund.

Here we have PW White from the Otway coast.
📷 @GrainneMaguire7

Head to to listen to our project officer @SonSanchez9 chatting to Greg Muller about all things hoodie while walking on Point Lonsdale Surf Beach! Do you think they found any #HoodedPlovers? The podcast is available online until Sunday 17th Jan! @BirdlifeOz

HUGE THANKS TO OUR AMAZING VOLUNTEERS and project partners – helping #HoodedPlovers depends on the collaborative effort!
#ThinkBeachBirds #MindTheHoodies #CitSci

Hooded plover numbers on the rise thanks to reduced visitor numbers Hooded plovers are vulnerable to human activity on beaches, with their eggs often crushed by 4WDs and chicks attacked by off-leash dogs.

Less beach visitors may have been a good thing for SA #HoodedPlovers! Keep in mind though these numbers in are from intensive monitoring of a subset of pairs; they’re not the total SA population😊Check this thread and VIC numbers for comparison!

New research led by @MWestonWildlife, in collaboration with @BirdlifeOz & @museumsvictoria, finds that western & eastern #HoodedPlovers are genetically distinct. We also discuss #conservation implications of further geographical variability.

Hoodies on an adventure? In April, @BirdlifeOz's Coastal Birds Team was surprised to find a pair of #HoodedPlovers during a #shorebird survey in VIC inland lakes. The hoodies were 50km in straight line from the nearest coast! This sighting is very rare for the eastern subspecies.

Hooded plover study investigates shorebird's inland migration Researchers investigate whether an endangered shorebird leaves the coast behind in winter to head inland.

We know little about what #HoodedPlovers are up to during the non-breeding season. @EPNRM will conduct winter surveys to investigate the hoodies' movements during the non-breading season on the Eyre Peninsula. Who knows what we’ll learn from this study!

We're busy crunching the numbers of the season! Good news from the Yorke Peninsula #HoodedPlovers!
With 20 fledglings from the 26 pairs that were monitored, this has been the best season for the Yorke's hoodies since the monitoring began 8 years ago!
#MindTheHoodies #conservation

Tune in today for some #BirdingAtHome with @Twitchathon, the first @BirdlifeOz Facebook Live event while we #StayHome. Lucky ones who can see the beach from their place might even spot some #HoodedPlovers! Join the fun!

Our project at the #BelfastCoastalReserve investigates the responses of #HoodedPlovers sitting on their nest to disturbances to better inform buffer areas. See what happens when an #offleashdog approaches!👇

Funded by @ParksVictoria @DELWP_Vic

#ThinkBeachBirds #MindTheHoodies

Three scenic days of Discovery Bay #bird surveys by Dan from @birdlife_hoodie team, with help from his sisters! They walked 45 km & sighted 101 #PiedOystercatchers, 33 #HoodedPlovers & 15 #Sanderlings. What an effort!
Project supported by @GHCMA @AusLandcare #ThinkBeachBirds

Since the project started in 2006, we’ve been training volunteers to become #CitizenScientists and help us gather data about #BeachNestingBirds, especially #HoodedPlovers, across Australia, educate the public on local beaches and raise awareness about these birds.

Thank you @Twitchathon for this great article and thank you @OceanGroveSLSC for working with our volunteers to protect the local #HoodedPlovers during the #RipToRiver run! We're so lucky to have such an amazing crew of dedicated volunteers!

Planning experts have also questioned @rwynnemp's move saying it's a "terrible outcome for our democracy”.
Commercial racehorse training is not beach-dependent, #HoodedPlovers, other #shorebirds and public use are!
#NoRaceHorsesOnBeaches #MindTheHoodies

Three days till Planning Minister Richard Wynne changes laws to allow commercial race horse training in #BelfastCoastalReserve (Warrnambool), critical habitat for #HoodedPlovers & #WildOz.
Race horse training is not a beach dependent activity.
Please RT.
#NoRaceHorsesOnBeaches

Still #WorldMigratoryBirdDay somewhere! Let's keep celebrating these extraordinary journeys! We were lucky to see some amazing migratory #shorebirds at #BelfastCoastalReserve this week + high densities of #HoodedPlovers!
Can you ID these #birds? Bonus points for the flock! 🙃

Bellarine Peninsula and Surf Coast locals, wanna learn ab #HoodedPlovers & get involved in their #conservation? Come along to our workshop on Sat 8th Sept, Bancoora Beach. RSVP by Wed 5th! All welcome!

Thrilling! A flock of 20 #HoodedPlovers @MornPenShire! Local adults, a fledgling from @PhillipIslandNP, an adult from Anglesea and two fledgling siblings from Rye. Please, report winter sightings as they help us identify important flocking sites! :) #WildOz

📷: G Maguire

New research shows #PipingPlovers in disturbed nonbreeding areas are lighter & have lower annual survival, arguing for the importance of non-disturbed wintering habitat for #shorebirds. Different species, but simialr threats than our #HoodedPlovers.

A great pleasure to meet you, @TSCommissioner. Thank you for taking the time to hear about #HoodedPlovers. We're hopeful the new #BelfastCoastalReserve Management Plan will #MindTheHoodies!

This is great! Keep it up, @TTnat46! All the best for the ringed #plovers over there! Time to flock and get ready for winter for our #HoodedPlovers :)

The breeding season is almost finished for our #HoodedPlovers, but some #plovers from Northern Hemisphere are about so start! All the best!

SAY NO to racehorse training in irreplaceable #WildOz habitat! Rutledges Cutting is the largest flocking site for #HoodedPlovers + home to critically endangered #OrangeBelliedParrot.
#MindTheHoodies👉
📷:G Ehmke, C Tzaros