Bass Coast’s chief hoodie Stephen Johnson at Harmers Haven By Stephen Johnson
When I was a young boy, there were three or four of us in one form that had bird egg collections. It wasn’t illegal back then. The golden rule was that you only took one egg. We used to do a bit of bartering, one of these for one of them, sort of thing.
As a 12 year old I used to ride my bicycle out to Williamsons Beach to catch salmon. I’d watch these hooded plovers running around on the beach on these speedy pink legs and I was fascinated. They look like they're checking you're out.
Anyway, in your teens you start getting into football and looking at girls. The egg collection languished. I joined the police force back in `72, went to Melbourne and did the police cadets training. Years later, we were living in Richmond, and I said to my wife, “Do we raise the kids in Melbourne or do we go back to the country? She's from Leongatha and she said “We both had a good time in the country. Let's try it.” So we came back to Wonthaggi in the late `80s.
When I was a young boy, there were three or four of us in one form that had bird egg collections. It wasn’t illegal back then. The golden rule was that you only took one egg. We used to do a bit of bartering, one of these for one of them, sort of thing.
As a 12 year old I used to ride my bicycle out to Williamsons Beach to catch salmon. I’d watch these hooded plovers running around on the beach on these speedy pink legs and I was fascinated. They look like they're checking you're out.
Anyway, in your teens you start getting into football and looking at girls. The egg collection languished. I joined the police force back in `72, went to Melbourne and did the police cadets training. Years later, we were living in Richmond, and I said to my wife, “Do we raise the kids in Melbourne or do we go back to the country? She's from Leongatha and she said “We both had a good time in the country. Let's try it.” So we came back to Wonthaggi in the late `80s.
I bailed out of the police at the age of 55. Done nothing else since I was 17. I asked a few guys what I should do. They said “Do something you like. It’s your time now.”
So I went on the Bird Life Australia website. There were a massive amount of projects you could get into. I narrowed it down to threatened species. I started with the hooded plover because its numbers were crashing, and the others weren't too bad back then.
So I went on the Bird Life Australia website. There were a massive amount of projects you could get into. I narrowed it down to threatened species. I started with the hooded plover because its numbers were crashing, and the others weren't too bad back then.
In Bass Coast [Inverloch to San Remo] we average around 30-33 pairs of breeding hooded plovers each summer. Bass Coast has the second highest density of hooded plovers in the state after far western Victoria. Our average fledging is 12 or 13 birds. Our highest has been 23 birds, our lowest has been 5. We had 14 fledglings last year.
When I started there were around 400 birds statewide. Now it’s a bit short of 700, so we’ve stopped the crash in numbers, but the big challenge is to level it out and then start going back up, because they still have that 90-95% breeding failure rate from successful egg to adulthood. It’s a depressing statistic. You get absorbed in the monitoring work but it's sort of sitting there in the background.
I say to our volunteers, one fledgling is gold. If we get any more than one, that's big time gold. So let's work at getting one out of each pair that we're working with, and that'll be good.
When I started there were around 400 birds statewide. Now it’s a bit short of 700, so we’ve stopped the crash in numbers, but the big challenge is to level it out and then start going back up, because they still have that 90-95% breeding failure rate from successful egg to adulthood. It’s a depressing statistic. You get absorbed in the monitoring work but it's sort of sitting there in the background.
I say to our volunteers, one fledgling is gold. If we get any more than one, that's big time gold. So let's work at getting one out of each pair that we're working with, and that'll be good.
Mouth of the Powlett. There are around 30 breeding pairs between Inverloch and San Remo.
Photo: Stephen Johnson
Photo: Stephen Johnson
The rope enclosures have really helped. There’s a 400% improvement rate of fledging if you enclose a plover nest on a busy beach. You don't bother so much on the isolated ocean beaches but Kilcunda, Cape, Inverloch, Harmers, yes. You look at a beach in the middle of the summer, it's just covered in human footprints from the water’s edge to the top of the dunes. The number of nests that I have found big dog prints or even human ones is frightening. It's important that our volunteers find those nests quickly so we get some protection.
When I hear someone say hooded plovers are stupid, that is so wrong. They have strategies. The young chicks are really vulnerable in those first days. They've got to be brooded because they can't regulate their body temperature. When the adults see a threat, they'll call these little chicks. They're communicating with them through their call and their parent-chick relationship. Often the little chick will run to something to sit by to help with the camouflage. They're beautifully camouflaged with down feathers. Sometimes they just squat down low on the beach and sit there frozen until they’re told it's okay. “You can come out now.”
When I hear someone say hooded plovers are stupid, that is so wrong. They have strategies. The young chicks are really vulnerable in those first days. They've got to be brooded because they can't regulate their body temperature. When the adults see a threat, they'll call these little chicks. They're communicating with them through their call and their parent-chick relationship. Often the little chick will run to something to sit by to help with the camouflage. They're beautifully camouflaged with down feathers. Sometimes they just squat down low on the beach and sit there frozen until they’re told it's okay. “You can come out now.”
Hoodie chicks: a ball of fluff on massive legs. Photo: Stephen Johnson
They're one of the few species that don't feed their chick. When it's born, the chick is up and about within 24 to 48 hours, catching food off the surface. They hatch out of the shell with these massive legs disproportional to their body size.. They have to find their own food so they've got to be mobile. Some people think they’re poor parents. No, they spend most of their time being alert and watching out for threats while the chicks are searching for food and feeding.
I've seen defending hoodie parents actually attack to try and drive away silver gulls. The silver gull will take hold of an early chick, but it's usually when they're in a flock formation and they get that feeding frenzy. It's really dangerous for young chicks because it becomes too much for the adult to defend them.
I've seen defending hoodie parents actually attack to try and drive away silver gulls. The silver gull will take hold of an early chick, but it's usually when they're in a flock formation and they get that feeding frenzy. It's really dangerous for young chicks because it becomes too much for the adult to defend them.
Ravens will steal the eggs. When I first started, magpies weren’t considered a threat. I believe magpies learnt from the ravens. I’ve seen a magpie pair with young hanging around on the beach here in the breeding season.
Or a bloody fox comes along and eats the eggs they've been sitting on that are just about ready to hatch, or takes the chicks. Or someone turns up with a camera and they’re determined to get their picture no matter how much it distresses the birds.
Something else I've observed, if they lose the chicks, the birds will go into mourning. They just sit on the beach close beside each other, two feet apart. If you've been watching them for the incubation period, you know they're never that close, other than when they swap over. They're on duty and they're working. But when they lose their chicks, they sit together quietly. They don't move. You'll come along and they'll allow you to get remarkably close to them without moving, as if they're indifferent to your presence. It lasts about three or four days, and then they'll get over it and start working again.
This mourning period is troubling for the volunteers. You have to go pump them up. “Come on. We can't give in now. The bird's not going to give in. It's going to keep trying, and we've got to keep trying.” I know it's hard after all we've been through.
The ones that can survive that sort of thing will stay on. We’ve got a good core team. We always welcome more!
Or a bloody fox comes along and eats the eggs they've been sitting on that are just about ready to hatch, or takes the chicks. Or someone turns up with a camera and they’re determined to get their picture no matter how much it distresses the birds.
Something else I've observed, if they lose the chicks, the birds will go into mourning. They just sit on the beach close beside each other, two feet apart. If you've been watching them for the incubation period, you know they're never that close, other than when they swap over. They're on duty and they're working. But when they lose their chicks, they sit together quietly. They don't move. You'll come along and they'll allow you to get remarkably close to them without moving, as if they're indifferent to your presence. It lasts about three or four days, and then they'll get over it and start working again.
This mourning period is troubling for the volunteers. You have to go pump them up. “Come on. We can't give in now. The bird's not going to give in. It's going to keep trying, and we've got to keep trying.” I know it's hard after all we've been through.
The ones that can survive that sort of thing will stay on. We’ve got a good core team. We always welcome more!
A meeting of adult hooded plovers. Photo: Stephen Johnson
The hooded plovers have had to learn a lot of new behaviour in the last 50 or so years. They've had to adapt quickly because unfortunately the peak of the breeding season is in summer when humans want to go to the beach.
If a threat still comes after the chicks have been sent in hiding, one bird will stay with the chicks and the other will try to engage the person who’s approaching. They lead them away. And sometimes that lead can be 50 metres before they'll fly back.
Then you've got the events like schoolies’ parties and bonfires on beaches. New Year's Eve. Volunteers go out the next morning and enclosures have been destroyed, busted up. Beach fun runs, volleyball near the enclosures is a nightmare for the parents. The surf lifesavers’ beach buggies …
Bird Life Australia's ethos all through the program is we need to share the beach. You can do that by putting your dog on a leash.
If the dog’s off leash it circles all over the beach. Big circles, little circles. The hoodie will get off that nest really quickly. They will try to engage the owner. If that doesn't work, they’ll try to engage the dog and lead them away from the nest.
If a threat still comes after the chicks have been sent in hiding, one bird will stay with the chicks and the other will try to engage the person who’s approaching. They lead them away. And sometimes that lead can be 50 metres before they'll fly back.
Then you've got the events like schoolies’ parties and bonfires on beaches. New Year's Eve. Volunteers go out the next morning and enclosures have been destroyed, busted up. Beach fun runs, volleyball near the enclosures is a nightmare for the parents. The surf lifesavers’ beach buggies …
Bird Life Australia's ethos all through the program is we need to share the beach. You can do that by putting your dog on a leash.
If the dog’s off leash it circles all over the beach. Big circles, little circles. The hoodie will get off that nest really quickly. They will try to engage the owner. If that doesn't work, they’ll try to engage the dog and lead them away from the nest.
The parents’ behaviour changes when they see the dog is on a leash. They will sit on the eggs for longer. If the dog is walking beside the owner at the water's edge as they're passing the enclosure, it'll stay seated in that enclosure.
Most of the people that we talk to are in support and encouraging to our volunteers when we explain what we're doing. They don't want to lose bird species, they want to be able to see the hooded plovers, and for their kids and grandkids to see them.
We're always going to have a very small percentage of individuals who choose not to have any regard for the birds. “Mate, I’ve been walking this beach with the dog for 40 years, I'm not changing now.”
Things can go pear shaped very quickly. After a couple of years, the Bird Life team realised this was going to be a problem. We introduced some specialised training on communication skills to avoid confrontations. We say to our volunteers, “Don't put yourself at risk. You're never going to win the argument. If they start arguing, turn and walk away. Focus on the birds.”
That works for most of the volunteers, but some have different personalities, they want to stand and try and convert this person.
This year more than any other we’re feeling the impact of high tides and storm surges. The tide is slamming into the fore dune. The grasses and vegetation are eroding. You’re ending up with this cliffing, a 12, 15, 18 foot drop. It’s taken away the habitat of beach nesting birds. They can’t nest on wet sand because the next high tide will get them. I did the walk from Cutlers to Baxters last weekend and there’s no dry habitat. It’s not just Bass Coast. It’s all along the coast.
It’s early December and the birds are still flocking. They should be paired off on their individual territories and scraping (practise nesting) and dropping eggs. We should have 15 to 20 sets of eggs by now. We’ve only got three.
The hoodies are trying to understand it, work around it, to come up with a strategy but that takes time. Climate change is happening too quickly. They can’t keep pace with it.
What keeps me going? The bird itself. I say to our volunteers “Look at these birds. They’re inspirational.” Their resilience, their determination, their dedication. They have up to seven, eight clutches in one season. It's a three egg nest at the start of the season. After five goes, it comes back to two eggs and the last one will be one egg because they are running out of energy.
Despite everything, they keep going. And so should we. Because if we give it away it’s all over for the hooded plovers.
Most of the people that we talk to are in support and encouraging to our volunteers when we explain what we're doing. They don't want to lose bird species, they want to be able to see the hooded plovers, and for their kids and grandkids to see them.
We're always going to have a very small percentage of individuals who choose not to have any regard for the birds. “Mate, I’ve been walking this beach with the dog for 40 years, I'm not changing now.”
Things can go pear shaped very quickly. After a couple of years, the Bird Life team realised this was going to be a problem. We introduced some specialised training on communication skills to avoid confrontations. We say to our volunteers, “Don't put yourself at risk. You're never going to win the argument. If they start arguing, turn and walk away. Focus on the birds.”
That works for most of the volunteers, but some have different personalities, they want to stand and try and convert this person.
This year more than any other we’re feeling the impact of high tides and storm surges. The tide is slamming into the fore dune. The grasses and vegetation are eroding. You’re ending up with this cliffing, a 12, 15, 18 foot drop. It’s taken away the habitat of beach nesting birds. They can’t nest on wet sand because the next high tide will get them. I did the walk from Cutlers to Baxters last weekend and there’s no dry habitat. It’s not just Bass Coast. It’s all along the coast.
It’s early December and the birds are still flocking. They should be paired off on their individual territories and scraping (practise nesting) and dropping eggs. We should have 15 to 20 sets of eggs by now. We’ve only got three.
The hoodies are trying to understand it, work around it, to come up with a strategy but that takes time. Climate change is happening too quickly. They can’t keep pace with it.
What keeps me going? The bird itself. I say to our volunteers “Look at these birds. They’re inspirational.” Their resilience, their determination, their dedication. They have up to seven, eight clutches in one season. It's a three egg nest at the start of the season. After five goes, it comes back to two eggs and the last one will be one egg because they are running out of energy.
Despite everything, they keep going. And so should we. Because if we give it away it’s all over for the hooded plovers.
