Janice Carpenter, regional coordinator for the Friends of the Hooded Plover, reports a highly successful year for the Surf Coast hoodies. Ten chicks fledged on our beaches this season which is the greatest number since the BirdLife monitoring program began 16 years ago.
Hooded Plover family
The first six fledglings took flight at Point Roadknight (three fledglings), Red Rocks, Point Addis (one) and at the new nest site Addiscot Beach, Point Addis (two). In the last weeks of March, another four chicks fledged, one at Point Impossible and three at Aireys Inlet.
A fledgling is a juvenile hoodie that is capable of flight and no longer dependent on its parents for food or protection. It takes around five weeks from hatching to get to this stage. The only disappointment in this record year was that no chicks fledged at Lorne.
Hooded Plover chick
Public awareness of hoodies is really improving, and community support for the hoodies program continues to grow.
James Orton
Photos of chicks taken under BirdLife Australia guidelines