My heart beats a little faster when I see exquisite, endangered Hooded Plover chicks.
Hooded Plover (Thinornis rubricollis rubricollis) – chick
1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 400
This week I spent a few hours at the beach when time stood still despite the setting sun.
My friend Sue (a Hoodie Watch volunteer) and I sat well outside the fenced hoodie refuge and held our breaths until we’d counted the three little fluff balls of hoodie chick that had just hatched.
Hooded Plover (Thinornis rubricollis rubricollis)
1/800, f/5.6, ISO 800
At one point Sue went to chat with people about keeping their dogs on leads when this adult hoodie flew over my head and landed facing the walkers. At first I wasn’t sure if it was a third adult but realised it was one of the parent birds when it started leading the walkers along the beach, away from the chicks. This fascinating behaviour is linked to the injured wing display that some birds use to attract attention to themselves rather than their families. The interesting thing with hoodies is that they are so small that people rarely spot them, even when they are trying to be seen.
One family with two young girls were delighted to see the chicks. The girls were gorgeous and asked what they could do to help the hoodies – it’s definitely cool to care.
Happy birding
Kim
PS for more images of hoodies and a wealth of information please check a previous post 3, 2, 1, 0 sadness
~ thank you for visiting and commenting
~ if you would like to join the subscribers who receive a weekly email letting them know when lirralirra has been updated please use the ‘subscribe’ box above right
I was just wondering if they do a letterbox drop in the areas with chicks? That’s a big task but might help to spread awareness? And you could have ecotours where you take beach goers on little walks and teach them about hoodies?
That is a great idea Lilla! I’ll find out and let you know. And what a great idea about ecotours; I’ll keep you posted.
It’s wonderful to have such caring people looking out for the hoodies! ❤️
Thanks for sharing these beautiful pictures of such a gorgeous little bird.
The volunteers and rangers are fantastic but it’s so hard with holiday makers changing every week. It’d be good if all the holiday accommodation places promoted the beauty of the hoodies and the need to protect them along with promoting beach ‘culture’. Actually, I’ll talk to people about this, I know some places give out informative postcards.
Beautiful, Kim! And thank you for caring… you are such a precious friend to the hoodies!
YOU are a precious friend to the hoodies! An amazing, tireless, staunch friend.
Of course it is cool to care.
Very, very cool.
Fingers and toes crossed these fragile balls of perfection survive.
PS: For the last few weeks I have had to post my comment twice. The first time I am told that Javascrip and cookies are required – and the second time it goes through.
Weird.
Perhaps it is payback for the difficulties you have with blogger.
Thanks for letting me know about the commenting issue EC, can you let me know if it’s fixed next time you try?
I’m hopeful these little ‘balls of perfection’ survive but the odds are so horribly stacked against them, it would help so much if hoodies didn’t nest right over the summer holidays.
Top photos, Kim.
Thank you Neil