I hope that all of Voice readers have had a lovely Christmas and hope 2025 is a ripper of a year.
I’ve been occasionally involved in hooded plover volunteering at Ocean Grove beach.
There’s one chick at 10W. Three chicks hatched and two disappeared after 48 hours, and the one hatchling that remains is looking strong so far, but they have another three weeks to survive until they fledge, which will be difficult. There were three hatchlings at Point Lonsdale but none survived and there’s another nest on the spit near Barwon Heads Bridge.
Please take note of signs at the entrance points to beaches especially in regards to the restrictions that are in place at this time of year. I must say that when volunteering many people have been interested in the plovers and have been popping their dogs on the leads in the dog beach which has been very heartening.
John Murray who is a hooded plover hoodlum legend volunteer from Point Lonsdale spotted a mistake in my last article, so thanks so much to John for providing me with a correction. John told me that dogs are off lead all year around between 6W and 13 W, and not 8W to 13W as I thought. Dogs are meant to be on the lead all year around at Point Lonsdale, although many dog owners do not adhere to this.
John pointed out that education and empathy and awareness are the keys to engaging the public in hooded plover survival, and John has these attributes in spades. John also sent me a photo of the public toilet at Point Impossible with a hooded plover awareness poster in the toilet, which does provide public awareness in a unique way.
On my way to Melbourne for a Christmas lunch with friends I popped in very quickly to the T-section lagoons at Western Treatment Plant, as I do love the crake pond there.
I saw hundreds of Australian shelducks, a few spotted crakes and many migratory waders, mainly sharp-tailed sandpipers and red-necked stints. There has been a really unusual wader known as a white-rumped sandpiper in this area, which is a species of migratory shorebird that has not been seen in Australia since the 1970s.
This species is usually seen in North and South America, but one has found itself migrating with sharp-tailed sandpipers to southern Australia. There has also been a little-ringed plover at Port Fairy, which is another rarely seen migratory wader.
I received an email from Ocean Grove local, Marianne, who informed me that there are six cygnets at Blue Waters Lake plus a pair of tawny frogmouths. Marianne commented that birdlife was abundant at the lake despite the blue-green algae affecting the quality of the water.
I wish everyone a wonderful 2025. Thanks for all the emails and observations that have been sent to me last year. They are much appreciated.
