Learn

Shorebirds include a range of different species which all call the shore their home, in particular they forage and find their food on the shore.   Some of these shorebirds spend their entire lives on our Australian beaches, in particular we have five species which also nesting and raise their young on our beaches.  These birds face a lot of pressures on our beaches, watch this video for an introduction to Australia’s beach-nesting shorebirds and find out why they have become threatened:

The Hooded Plover is one of our local beach-nesting birds found along the Surf Coast.  Watch this information animation depicting the plight of the Hooded Plover, created for BirdLife Australia by Laura Tan.

Since 2006 BirdLife Australia’s Beach-nesting Birds project has been working with community volunteers across Australia to achieve the following:

• Raise awareness among beach users about beach-nesting birds
• Train local volunteers to monitor beach-nesting birds, identify threats and improve management
• Protect eggs and chicks through temporary fencing, signage, artificial shelters
• Research new ways of protecting birds and improving breeding success

Watch this video for more information about the project:

If you want to get involved in helping Hooded Plovers or other beach-nesting birds check out the website: http://birdlife.org.au/beach, or email [email protected] and become a volunteer.