Hooded plovers flocking at Sandy Point

Hooded Plovers at Sandy Point usually congregate in groups of about 10-18 after breeding winds up around April,. This breeding season, from February onwards, larger groups of 30-50 birds were intermittently observed along the spit while our own 9 pairs of resident breeding Hoodies were still displaying breeding behaviour and observed at home on their own breeding territories. 

The video from mid-March shows part of one of these unusual groups, largely made up of visiting adult, non-breeding Hoodies. These birds are probably following the food supply.  Since very few are flagged they are assumed to have flown across the narrow Shallow Inlet Channel from Cotters Beach where Hoodies breed on Wilsons Promontory

More recently groups of up to 30 Hooded Plovers, including juveniles, have been observed regularly around and beyond Horse Track (where a pair bred 3 years ago before the beach eroded removing suitable nesting habitat).