Hooded Plover Project

The project will establish baseline data on hooded plover breeding population size and distribution, with a focus on Flinders Island and the east coast of Tasmania, to support planning of future on-ground actions. Safeguarding nesting sites by installing protective fencing in areas known to be vulnerable to human disturbance, engaging with the community to increase awareness of these vulnerable birds and managing coastal weeds in known breeding areas will improve nesting habitat and breeding attempts.

Hooded plover are a small, beach-nesting bird with a remaining estimated population size of only 3,000 individuals in the wild. There has been a continuous decline in their habitat, as well as in the number of mature hooded plover (eastern) individuals, particularly of mainland Australian populations.

Tasmania is believed to be home to approximately half of the remaining population of hooded plover (eastern), with approximately 20% of known individuals occurring in north-eastern Tasmania and up to half of these occurring in the Furneaux Islands.

Key feeding and nesting habitat consist mainly of ocean beaches backed by dunes, however, hooded plover also feed in saltmarshes, estuaries, coastal lagoons, and mudflats. Nesting occurs predominantly on flat sandy beaches above the high tide mark, or sparsely vegetated dunes. Marine debris, invasive weeds, rising sea levels, and extreme weather threaten this nesting habitat – however, the larger threat to the nests is disturbance or destruction by people, dogs, stock, and vehicles on the beach.

Research conducted by Birdlife Australia has shown that installing protective fencing around nest sites of hooded plovers is effective in mitigating the risk of disturbance or destruction by human activities on beaches. This protection has been observed to improve the nesting success of those areas that are protected, resulting in more chicks successfully fledging.

The Hooded Plover Project will survey beaches of eastern Tasmania and Flinders Island for hooded plover breeding pairs and install temporary fencing, signage and monitor nesting locations, where nesting hooded plover are likely to be at high risk of disturbance. Control of coastal weeds will be facilitated through the engagement of community volunteers and contractors.

Delivery of the project will:

• support community volunteers in the larapuna/Bay of Fires area to keep the area free of sea spurge;
• map and control weed locations, engaging weed management contractor/s where necessary;
• employ work crews, including an Aboriginal Ranger team, to map and control sea spurge and Cape Beach Daisy (Arctotheca populifolia) along the coastline of Flinders Island;
• educate the community and raise awareness of threats to hooded plover and protection strategies through temporary beach signage, one-on-one consultation, school programs, events, and digital communications; and
• conduct social surveys of knowledge and attitudes towards beach use to provide baseline data for current and future work.