Hooded plovers project

Hooded plovers (Thinornis cucullatus) are small shorebirds, easily identified by their distinctive black hood, red circle around the eye and orange stalk-like legs. The hooded plover is listed as vulnerable in South Australia and nationally, meaning the birds are considered to be facing a high risk of extinction.

Why hooded plovers are under threat

Human activity and introduced predators are the major threats to Hooded Plovers. Nesting at the base of the sand dunes during spring and summer on Yorke Peninsula’s beaches, they will abandon eggs and chicks if persistently disturbed by off-road vehicles, dogs, people and foxes.

What is being done to protect hooded plovers?

Friends of Hooded Plover

On Yorke Peninsula Friends of Hooded Plover volunteers are working to monitor, protect and raise awareness in the community about Hooded Plovers. View their Facebook site here

How you can help

You can help protect the hooded plover at the beach by:

• learning to identify hooded plovers
• keeping your dog on a leash when at the beach – especially during spring and summer
• only walking below the high tide mark during the nesting season
• not driving on the beach or dune areas
• riding your horse at low tide as close to the water’s edge as possible
• moving away quietly when you see hooded plovers

Volunteers are always needed and you can commit to as much or as little involvement as you’d like.

• Volunteer for one day every two years to walk a designated beach and count the number of birds you see.

• ‘Adopt a beach’ and regularly monitor a particular pair of hooded plovers throughout the breeding season.

If you see a hooded plover please:

• do not approach them
• report your sighting to the Northern and Yorke Landscape Board

Lead agency

BirdLife Australia

Partners

Northern and Yorke Landscape Board, Copper Coast Council, Yorke Peninsula Council.

Funding partners

Northern and Yorke Landscape Board and BirdLife Australia.