Western Australia: Beach-nesting Birds Project Workshops

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1 Western Australia: Beach-nesting Birds Project Workshops Grainne Maguire, Project Manager Beach-nesting Birds Project, BirdLife Australia Hooded Plovers are unique to southern Australia and are a shorebird the subject of much monitoring and research over the past few decades in both the eastern and western states of Australia. In the summer of 2012, it seemed timely to carry out workshops in Western Australia to share information and look for future collaborations between BirdLife Australia s Beach-nesting Birds (BNB) project and BirdLife Australia s Western Australian Hooded Plover project. Since 2006, the BNB project has been operating in Victoria and South Australia involving nest monitoring, research into improving breeding success, and broad scale nest protection, for these exclusive beach and dune nesting pairs. There have also been biennial Hooded Plover counts since 1980 across Victoria and parts of South Australia, which extended in 2008 to include the entire Victorian and South Australian coasts, plus southern NSW. In Western Australia, Hooded Plover monitoring has occurred since 1994 and involves an enormous coordination effort to cover the extensive coastal and salt lake range of the species here the birds are not exclusive beach-nesters, but instead inhabit inland lake environments, nesting on the shoreline. This presents different monitoring and species management challenges. Herewith are notes taken from each of the workshops and field visits.

2 Esperance 14/01/ attendees The day began with a field trip to Lake Warden, where we saw a small flock of Hooded Plovers containing more juveniles than adults (4 adults, 6 juveniles), and to the Golf Club, where we spotted an interesting selection of migratory shorebirds, wetland birds and my favourite, the black-fronted dotterel. Above: Field visit to Lake Warden. Indoor session with speakers from Esperance Bird Observers (Jen Ford), Hopetoun (John Tucker), South Coast NRM (Dylan Gleave) and BirdLife Australia National Office (Grainne Maguire). Key discussion points - Hooded Plovers around Esperance occupy predominantly salt lakes both coastal and inland. These vary in size, tenure and threats experienced. - Threats identified were water availability (natural and artificial influences; mention of a pipeline that diverts water from multiple lakes and perhaps has been beneficial to the birds 2

3 use of the lakes); predators (foxes, cats, avian predators); cattle trampling of nests on private lakes; vehicles accessing lakes. - Abundant beaches around Esperance but only one pair known to nest on the beach. This site, Fourth beach, is in proximity to the township and would benefit from some protection during nesting season (particularly in terms of dogs being leashed and a section of beach signed off for the birds protection). - Esperance Bird Observers are a well organised and motivated group who participates in Hooded Plover surveys. They have a large area to cover and benefit from additional volunteers to assist during surveys. - Surveys of some lakes rely on permission from land holders to access their properties; it might be worthwhile to come up with a little information sheet for farmers about the birds and a few easy things they can do to protect the habitat they have on their property. If they are very informed land holders, then perhaps worthwhile writing them a letter each year with results of survey and an idea of the proportion of birds seen on private land versus public land. - There appears to be great support available from the South Coast NRM (Robyn Cail and Dylan Gleave). It was mentioned that there were staff shortages and limited resources within DEC, limiting capacity to assist; e.g. Hooded Plover signage purchased is still in NRM office awaiting installation. - Lake Gore hasn t had the record number of 959 hoodies sighted since February 1995 (Weston and Elgar 2000). It has since had far fewer numbers and suggests that this flock size was a product of the right conditions (related to a cyclone) at Lake Gore and birds from many different areas congregating together to bring about such a large number. - John Tucker covers an enormous area around Hopetoun, surveying shorebirds including the Hooded Plover count, and often this involves difficult access through tick infested areas! 15/01/2012 Field trip with Ken and Jean Read, Jen Ford and Peter and Pleasance Rushton to Helms Lake where we saw red-capped plovers and only one lone hoodie, and then we hit the jackpot on a small lake, with a pink hue, on a farmer s property Harrys place where we saw a flock of 37 hoodies! We called in to Fourth beach but didn t stop the pair in our brief scan with binoculars, but we had a good look for prints in the nesting dune. 20/02/2012 Three Hooded Plover chicks sighted at the Golf Club lake by Peter Rushton. We didn t spot these birds on the day of the workshop but they would have either hatched then or been close to it. Peter followed these through but they weren t sighted from the 10 th of February, suggesting they did not survive to fledge. Above: Vehicle tracks on Pink lake; windsurfing buggy. 3

4 Above: field visit to Helms lake and a lake on private property. Below: Fourth beach and Cape Le Grand NP. 4

5 Above left: Fourth beach; Above right, middle and below left: Cape Le Grand National Park; below right: Lake Gore. 5

6 Bremer Bay and Fitzgerald Biosphere 16/01/ Visited Point Ann/St Mary Inlet and saw Hooded Plover signage, no hoodies were sighted. West along the beach were Pied Oystercatchers. The inlet had an abundance of migratory shorebirds and red-capped plovers. Vehicle tracks were overwhelming on this beach, leaving little sand untouched by tyres. - Anne Gadsby (key volunteer) and Anne Sparrow (Western Fitzgerald Biosphere Project Officer) came to the Albany workshop where we heard about the birds and the threats present in this area. - At Bremer Bay Wellstead estuary, vehicles on the estuary where a pair of Pied Oystercatchers and Hooded Plovers nest are a real issue. I visited the site and was struck by the number of families using the estuary as a carpark. It may be possible to distinguish between vehicles that are accessing the site to travel to remote areas for fishing access, etc, versus those who are parking on the estuary to spend time close by to the river mouth. The latter could be redirected off the beach during nesting season without creating high levels of inconvenience. A local revealed there was a bit of a divide among the community about protecting the birds and concern about changes to current access. Anne Gadsby mentioned that some quad bike users have been great and actually report to hear what they see the birds doing. - This breeding season, a Hooded Plover nest at the estuary was at risk from flooding in late November (river mouth about to break) and so the decision was made to bring the eggs into captivity. These were successfully artificially incubated and lessons were learnt about ideal conditions. Transfer to a King Quail to incubate toward the end of the incubation period was successful to a point the quail happily incubated the eggs but post-hatching, rejected the chicks and two died soon after. The third was hand reared for 6 days and then rapidly lost condition and died to an unknown cause. Rearing and release of chicks is still an unknown, and whether hand-reared chicks can successfully be reintroduced to the coast and survive with equal success to broods reared by their parents is unknown. The major questions would be regarding which behaviours are learnt from their parents, and whether these hand-reared birds would ever be good parents themselves in the future. - Flocking sites of importance: Gordon Inlet in 2010 had 52 hoodies reported in March, and in adults and 6 juveniles, but none sighted in summer count 2012; Point Ann St Mary Inlet had 12 adults and 3 juveniles in 2011 and in 2012, 2 adults sighted. Above: signage at Point Ann along vehicle access track to beach. 6

7 Avoe Above: Point Ann beach with abundant seaweed for feeding but equally abundant vehicle tracks. Albany 19/01/2012 Indoor workshop with 11 participants with presentations from Anne Gadsby (Bremer Bay), Anne Bondin (Albany Birdlife Australia) and Grainne Maguire (Birdlife Australia National Office). - Albany has few Hooded Plover beaches in close proximity to the township, but Wilson inlet estuary is of major importance to Fairy Terns, which are a Federally, EPBC Act listed threatened species. - Anne Bondin spoke about Fairy Terns nesting at Wilson Inlet at Prawn Rock Channel where the colony showed up and 13 nests with eggs were discovered on the 6/11/11, then approval was sought from authorities to fence and sign the area for its protection. Approval was gained by the 16/11/11 and the fence and signs erected by the community and school kids on the 18/11/11. On 10/12/11, three nests with chicks were observed and by the 29/12/11 the colony departed Prawn rock, with 10 fairy terns with fledglings observed nearby. - Ideally a system needs to be put in place between volunteers, land managers and the NRM whereby if nests are found, there is a more rapid response to protect these. This may require a list of contacts and out-of-hours phone numbers, and approvals in place for such protective measures prior to when the breeding season begins, so that everything is ready to go. Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges NRM established some good protocols between councils and volunteers for rapid responses for protecting Hooded Plover nests, which may be a good example to follow. - The nearest hoodie beaches are Nanarup and Normans beaches to the East of Albany and then beaches around Denmark to the West including Greens pool, Masletti beach and Parrys beach/parrys Inlet. Here there is signage at Greens pool access about the Hooded Plover. This is an incredibly popular beach with swim classes for children, and if nests were in 7

8 proximity to access points, would benefit greatly from nest site protection measures such as temporary fencing and signage. A box with beach-nesting bird brochures at the access may also be useful. - Anne Bondin showed me some sites around Nanarup, and we were lucky to see a juvenile hoodie on the edge of the estuary (see photo below, so close to a vehicle). Above: Signage and fencing for Fairy Terns at Wilson Inlet (courtesy Sheryn Prior); Middle: Hooded Plover juvenile moves from water s edge into water as vehicle passes; Below: vehicle tracks at Nannarup beach. 8

9 Above: signage at Nannarup indicating no vehicles west of inlet but fresh tracks indicated this was ignored; signage at Greens pool about the Hooded Plover. Below: Greens pool beach. Walpole 20/01/ Conspicuous cliff beach, Peaceful Bay and Irwin Inlet to the east, and Mandalay beach to the west, are the nearest Hooded Plover beaches to Walpole. - Visited Mandalay beach with Shannon Armstrong, Janine Liddelow and volunteers Mavis and Jan. We observed the Hooded Plover on the nest within the fenced area, incubating in some very hot conditions. The partner was not sighted and was presumably off feeding in the distance. We noted some interesting behaviour; every time a pacific gull flew overhead, the incubating hoodie would run off the nest and stand hidden in the shadow of the fence post. At first we wondered if it was seeking shade, but then noticed the pattern related to when the gull flew overhead. This nest hatched 21 st January and chick signs were put up to assist with visitor awareness. 9

10 Above: Fenced nest at Mandalay beach. - Camp hosts are a great way of conveying messages about beach-nesting birds to potential beach visitors and to give updates on nesting progress. Crystal Springs camp host given information by Shannon plus materials to give out, and was very enthusiastic about passing information on and checking on birds (the host actually reported the nest hatching). - Red-capped plover nests at Irwin Inlet/Peaceful Bay have also been protected by signage and fencing (see below). - Local primary school keen to teach the students about beach-nesting birds. Right: Red-capped plover nest site signage. Above: fencing as implemented by DEC, Walpole office. Note the fence shown in the upper left photo is no longer used as the orange mesh waved around in the wind too much and disrupted the birds. Also in Victoria, where a Hooded Plover nest was completely enclosed in this orange mesh, the birds abandoned as they could not fit through the mesh size to access their eggs. The upper right photo shows how this fence was then adapted to use only a bit of orange mesh on top of the fence for visibility to vehicles, but with the lower part of the fence open for the birds to access the nest. Photos courtesy Shannon Armstrong. 10

11 Margaret River 23/01/2012 Indoor presentation with 30 participants. Presentations from Jessica Worrall (Local Hooded Plover survey coordinator), Kim Onton (DEC, former coordinator of Capes Hooded Plover Project) and Grainne Maguire (Birdlife Australia National Office). - Kim spoke about the Capes project which ran which focused on monitoring breeding success of Hooded Plovers in the Capes region and effectiveness of fencing/signing nesting areas. Due to the Margaret River region being such a popular visitor destination, it was considered a timely project to investigate visitor pressures and health of the Capes Hooded Plover population. - In the season, 169 monitoring visits were made, with 15 beaches supporting Hooded Plover pairs. Three chicks fledged from two broods at two different sites that were fenced (Redgate and Augusta). A few examples of fenced sites are pictured below (courtesy Kim Onton). Note lower picture where an access track came directly out in the middle of the fenced area and while initially the public resisted using this track and abided by signage, this did not last for the duration of the nesting attempt. Photo: Renee Mouritz 11

12 - The Capes project participated in a lot of community education including local media, information stands and a brochure was developed to raise awareness about local hoodies. - In the current breeding season, DEC continues to monitor Hooded Plovers and six nests were fenced, five of which hatched. Some attendees of the workshop, members of the public, had actually fenced off a nest they found when they realised how vulnerable it was. - Volunteers participating in the Hooded Plover count expressed the desire to be more connected to the monitoring of breeding; at least for there to be better avenues of communication between DEC and volunteer coordinators involved in the different facets of monitoring the local Hooded Plover population. - At the meeting, two participants attended the information session to raise their discontent about a recent beach closure to vehicles. A local ranger expressed that this beach closure was related to multiple conservation values of the area as well as access and public safety issues, but that it had been unfortunately attributed by local media purely as a protective strategy for breeding Hooded Plovers. The closure had upset numerous locals who had been accessing this beach for years and because the bird was used in media as the reason for this, there was a lot of angst being directed toward the species. Unfortunately the rarity of the species on the Capes coastline was used as an argument for sacrificing this beach at the expense of the species, with the information from the session leading to the opinion that there are plenty elsewhere in WA so why should we lose access to our beach. Much debate followed and it was concluded that there was a lack of any public consultation over the introduction of the beach closure, where the Hooded Plover meeting had actually been used as a forum to voice opinions about this. - Negativity toward the species can be an unfortunate by-product of any regulation changes put in place that can benefit beach-nesting birds. Often because these birds are flagship or indicator species, they are used within media as the poster child of change. More often than not, there have to be a suite of reasons for any type of prohibition of a form of recreation put in place on beaches protection of a single species is rarely an incentive for government to act (albeit even if the activity is harmful to the species). The critical ingredient to any change put in place is carrying out broad reaching and effective community consultation. This does not necessarily mean that the people with the loudest voices get to make the decisions; it means that there are plenty of opportunities to explain the reasons for change, to give people of all motivations an opportunity to present an argument or alternative strategy, to search for the best way to implement change and strike a balance. If a balance isn t possible, then at least there is a forum for explaining and debating this. - Numerous families and local residents attended the workshop out of general interest, indicating that there would be scope for more involvement in activities across a broad range of the community. It may be important to provide some occasional events/activities that the general public can participate in, such as even advertising the survey walks and coupling up new members of the public with existing counters, where the beach walk can act as an introduction to the birds and a way to participate in something meaningful to the species conservation. Otherwise adapting dogs breakfasts into a more general breakfast on the beach activity, providing free breakfast and information to beach users, may be a popular way to convey conservation messages. - There is real scope for the Capes project to work more closely with the BNB project due to strong similarities between the threats facing the eastern hoodies. The two projects could benefit from working together, and share resources and ideas. 12

13 Yalgorup Lakes Preston Beach 25/01/2012 Indoor presentation with 25 participants. Presentations from Bill Russell (Yalgorup Lakes Hooded Plover project), Kim Onton (DEC, former coordinator of Cape to Cape Project) and Grainne Maguire (Birdlife Australia National Office). - Yalgorup lakes have been most extensively and regularly monitored for Hooded Plovers than any other region in WA, with bi-annual statewide counts occurring over 10 years and monthly counts over 4 years. Dick Rule and others including Bill Smart have surveyed the northern lakes, Bill Russell the central lakes, and Tony France the southern end of Lake Preston (which can be 9 to 10 times saltier than the sea!). - Currently the township of Preston Beach has ~75 permanently occupied houses on blocks of ~1000 square metres and a population of 183 (2006 census). Holiday homes and units bring the number of dwellings to ~428. The area between the eastern side of Lake Clifton and Old Coast Road is zoned as Rural, with blocks of ~8 Ha. To the east of Old Coast Road there are Rural Residential areas with blocks ranging between 2 and 16 Ha, and a total population of less than 1000 people. - Development is proposed to change the land management from rural to urban, thus giving potential for 15,000 residences to go up adjacent to Lake Preston. The proposal will go to council at the end of 2012 and have serious ramifications for managing the area and the habitat value for the species. - A flagging project since 2002 has seen 43 birds (adults and chicks) colour flagged using a single metal band and 3 colour flags in a unique combination, reports are able to be downloaded Most have been resighted within Yalgorup Lakes, with only two sightings further afield (Lake Norring at Wagin; Flagstaff Lake, south of Wagin). It is noted that in winter, many of the flagged birds disappear from the lakes. - North Lake Preston is a good flocking site but in recent years, the flock has not been present, possibly they are around Lake Clifton, but this is a very difficult site to access for surveying. - Nesting at the lakes has been recorded in early June (eggs at Swan Pond) and the earliest chicks, in mid August at Lake Clifton. It has been recorded in almost every month of the year. Nesting is dependent on water levels and available shoreline, and appears opportunistic rather than strictly seasonal. If breeding is opportunistic, it would be difficult to have seasonal regulations for recreational activities because of this pattern. - For the first time this summer, Martins Tank has had camp hosts and this has radically reduced the incidences of fires and undesirable behaviour. - The map of breeding locations tends to show more nests recorded on the western edge of the southern lakes than other areas. - Most nests are on broken limestone, very few on sandy shores. - Western Lake Preston offers several unusual if not unique features. Not all HPs at west Lake Preston nest closely to the main shore. While access to HP sites over an adopted stretch from Myalup northwards to 1km short of Preston Beach is relatively straight forward, some monitoring challenges exist because at least three breeding pairs are known to nest at one or other of a series of recurring islands (information courtesy Tony France). - Incidence of chick adoption where two pairs with three and two chicks respectively, were within 200 metres of one another; one pair ended up with four chicks and the other pair disappeared. - At Half-way Track (adjacent to west Lake Preston and occurring about halfway along the lake s length from Myalup to Preston Beach), informal camping occurs on private unfenced land that abuts the western verge of the unmade Lake Preston Road. Since the Harvey Shire some months ago banned the use of all quad, and trail bikes at any public land or reserves west of the Old Coast Road and on ocean beaches within the shire, some offenders access the Half-way track land by way of the ocean beach, with some thereafter using Lake Preston 13

14 Road/dirt track to travel northwards into the YNP and along Lake Preston s foreshore. Halfway Track Quad- and trail-bikers exiting the informal camp and travelling on to the lake s NW shoreline endanger up to 6 known HP nesting sites out of a total of some 15 sites for the whole of the west shore (information courtesy Tony France). A donation of 500 tonnes of large limestone rocks, plus free loading, at an east Lake Preston quarry, has been made but not as yet taken up by DEC to block vehicle access into the area. See photos of tyre tracks precariously close to a nest (which had eggs prior to this visit). - Interpretive signage at Myalup and Binningup beach car parks show a traditional 4WD beach route from Preston Beach to beyond Binningup (~40km), which is no longer legally accessible to the general public (4WD club outings can access the area with permission from DEC). Stickers could be placed over the permanent signage to indicate this change so that the public don t mistakenly think this route is still accessible. Above left: Hooded Plover empty nest scrape where vehicle tracks have just missed crushing the nest; Above right: signage put up when birds are breeding to encourage visitors to minimise their impact. These signs were once put out during the breeding season but because the birds would often nest earlier and later than usual, signs were left up all year round to protect the birds. Unfortunately many were vandalised or became weathered and have not been replaced (courtesy Tony France). Afternoon field visit to Lake Pollard where plenty of swans and ducks were seen, plus red-capped plovers and red-necked stints, but alas those elusive Hooded Plovers were nowhere to be seen. The heat was horrendous! Above: Lake Pollard habitat 14

15 Summary While there are major differences between the habitat and threats to breeding Hooded Plovers in their eastern and western range, there is much to be gained from sharing information on what we know about this species to better its conservation outlook across Australia. Where Hooded Plovers do inhabit beaches and near coastal areas in their Western range, the issues are very similar to those in the east, with major threats arising from visitor pressures (including location of access points; off leash dogs; vehicles above the high-tide mark). From surveys carried out in Western Australia, it appears that the population has declined and numbers are nowhere as high as once estimated at ~ birds in the west. It is more likely that the eastern and western populations combined make this total, and in that case, the species should qualify for EPBC Act listing as a federally threatened species. Furthermore, if population genetics revealed that the species is actually two distinct subspecies, this would potentially give each a higher conservation status. Quantifying the Western Australian population is a massive feat and volunteers currently do an amazing job to survey an enormous habitat range, often in difficult to access and remote areas. Modelling habitat features which relate to 1) presence of Hooded Plovers and 2) density of Hooded Plovers at lake habitats would be useful for identifying how much available habitat there is, and the conditions which make this habitat suitable. This could then assist with estimating total population size and targeting habitats for surveying and for ground-truthing modelling results. There is lots of scope to work more closely together and the BNB project is keen to have more contributions to the National Newsletter Word about the Hood (about any species of beach or shore nesting birds); to share any resources that are developed and ensure they are relevant to WA; to provide advice or any materials for beach-nesting bird education, monitoring, nest site protection or awareness raising; and to fund Deakin University to carry out a genetic exploration of population differences between western and eastern Hooded Plovers. Via our devolved funding from the Australian Government s Caring for our Country, the BNB project will donate 14 GPS units to the WA Hooded Plover monitoring team. Acknowledgements The Australian Government s Caring for our Country funded the above workshops. I would like to sincerely thank Marcus Singor for all his help organising these workshops, and Bill Russell for organising the Preston Beach workshop and ensuring a great turnout; Thelma Crook from Peel-Harvey Catchment Council for providing the funds for a lovely lunch at Preston Beach; Natalie Bell and Jessica Worrall for organising the Margaret River workshop and setting up such a gorgeous venue; Anne Bondin and Sheryn Prior for organising the Albany workshop and Anne for taking me around; Shannon Armstrong for taking me out to Mandalay beach and introducing me to local volunteers; Dylan Gleave and Robyn Cail from South Coast NRM for organising the Esperance workshop; Esperance Bird Observers for ensuring a great turnout; Ken and Jean Read, Jen Ford and Peter and Pleasance Rushton for a lovely outing to see hoodie sites around Esperance; and to all the speakers (Jen, Dylan, Anne, Anne, Jessica, Kim, Bill) especially Kim Onton who travelled from Perth, you did a brilliant job and I learnt so much. 15