scientific research-hooded plover

Hooded plover

The Hooded Plover is a species of bird which is only found in Australia. They are about half the size of a standard seagull with a black head followed with a back with a yellowish-white colour which camouflages with the sand, a white belly and moves quickly in different directions. They live only in the middle of the beach between the sand dunes and the sea on Australian beaches. The population Hooded Plover has decreased dramatically and they are now an endangered species because of numerous deaths and their poor birth rate. This has happened because of humans, vehicles, animals, predator birds and the poor birth rate. Some solutions for saving it to strictly ban vehicles such as four wheel drives and quad bikes and their could be some way to save and alter the birth rate by trying to move them into safer areas of beaches.

The aim for this research is to provide more research from the birth rates, living, laying eggs and making nests for the future scientists and professors of birds who can get a better understanding of the birds and how they can make their lives better. This information can also go to help and save their lives from deadly predators on beaches.

We arrived at west gate beach at 10.30am and looked out for them untill11.55am. The first sighting of the Plover was either two baby Plovers or two juveniles which was at 35 degrees south with 14.992 and 136 degrees east with 49.762 when we first walked onto the beach. We walked for a while after that and found two more with the same dilemma, juveniles or babies? They were found at 35 degrees south at 15.138 and 136 degrees east with 49.867. Many tracks of the Plovers were found spread all over the beach. We noticed that the direction of the birds footprints were in every single direction which confused us why they did this. The methods we took were by taking down the area the birds were and how many there were in that area. We also looked for tracks of predators and vehicles in the sand to know if any had come around lately.

On the beach we only found four hooded plovers overall and there was no evidence of nesting in the vicinity of west gate beach. The cloud cover was about 25 percent and there was no rain to interfere with the research which was taking place. The estimated temperature was about 26 degrees Celsius and the wind was low which also helped in not interfering by distracting or scaring the birds away. Their were scarce amount of human footprints in the track except for the ones we made along with many other human activities such as joggers and sunbathers. We discovered the tracks of dogs which are extremely dangerous to the vulnerable plover so that was interesting but there were no sighting of foxes or other dangerous animals. The results were small but it was good to know there were no cars of dangerous animals on the beach that kill and crush the plover’s eggs.

In discussion their survival is the most serious thing to look out for such as the birth rate is good for eggs which have been laid with a 90 percent chance of living but baby Plovers have about a 30 percent chance of living as a baby which doesn’t give any chance of living into their juvenile age. The area they live on the beaches is literally suicide for them so there must be some way to protect them from predators and vehicles or even moving them from the middle of the beach to more stable ground in the sand dunes.


In conclusion the Hooded Plovers are technically screwed where they are now and something has to be done because we are talking about another species of bird which can be wiped out due to their size and living area. This is a living creature with families and these things are also quite beautiful and it would be a damn shame for it to be killed out. But they are really digging their own grave from where they are living right now in the middle of the beach and they need to be protected somehow but what can we do?