In Victoria, there are only about 400-450 of these birds left so it is now listed as a threatened species.

Unfortunately, this has happened because we have changed the way we use our beaches. We swim, surf, sunbathe and walk our dogs in or near their habitat – the high tide line.

Already this summer, two chicks have fledged from Smiths Beach (although one was killed by dogs or crows).

At Flynns Beach, they are still susceptible to predators until they fledge in February. Help this tiny bird survive by obeying the signs and stay clear of the marked area.

•Hooded Plovers can sometimes gather up their eggs after a wave has washed them out of the nest, and often these eggs are still able to hatch.

•During the summer, to keep their eggs cool in the hot sand, the parents wet their bellies in the waves and then sit on the eggs.

•Adult Hooded Plovers never feed their chicks - they have to feed themselves straight after hatching.

•When a predator approaches a Hooded Plover’s nest, the parent bird runs away, leading the predator off so that the nest is out of harm’s way. When far enough away from the nest, it flies back to the eggs or chicks, leaving the predator far away.

•Sometimes when ‘leading’ a predator, the parent bird pretends to have a broken wing, by dragging it along the ground. In this way it is trying to make itself attractive to the predator and seem easy to catch, so that the chicks will be left alone.

What's On In February/March