Those birders who might not have 'ticked' the Hooded Plover resident on the North Shore of the Noosa River in SE Queensland for the
past few weeks but are considering doing so this weekend or in the near future will probably be interested in the following.
Jill Dening and I visited the Noosa River North Shore area today, Friday 27 Aug 2010, to find and photograph the Hooded Plover as it
progresses towards attaining its full adult plumage. Unfortunately we were not able to find the bird or the Double-banded Plovers it
was associating with over the time it has been there.
We arrived in the area at around high tide and stayed long enough to be sure the Hooded Plover was not where it had been on the 4 or
5 times I have personally looked for and photographed it.
The Hooded Plover and several Double-banded Plovers (in breeding plumage) were there on the North Shore on Tues. 17 Aug at which
time I photographed it (see http://ptiloris.smugmug.com/Rare-sightings/Rarities/12598144_kyG8s#974034656_GwiVm) to record the
darkening 'hood'.
Today the Hooded Plover and the Double-banded Plovers were no where to be seen which prompts the question "Did the Hooded Plover
depart with the Double-banded Plovers for the Double-banded's breeding grounds in the New Zealand South Island?". I am prompted to
ask (with a deliberate tone of irony) that shorebird watchers in the NZ South Island keep an eye out for a Hooded Plover with a
slightly less than pure black hood arriving on the Double-banded breeding grounds in the next few days. I say "with a deliberate
tone of irony" because it has been suggested by some people, without any shred of proof by precedence, that 'our' Hooded Plover
would leave with the Double-bandeds, a prospect scoffed at by many, and so far it appears that it may have done so. This is 'new
territory' in the history of Hooded Plovers as far as I know so it would be a 'hoot' (as it was put to me) if the bird actually
turned up in New Zealand.
If the bird, instead, headed 'home' to, say, SE NSW and joined up with its kin there we would never know as it doesn't have
identifying leg bands or flags.
However, the Hooded Plover may simply have relocated itself somewhere out of our sight and we may have been in the right place but
at the wrong time.
Therefore, I ask that anyone who has seen the Noosa River Hooded Plover anytime between 17th Aug and today (27 Aug) plus anyone who
sees the bird after today would they please email me with the details /
Incidentally and, possibly coincidentally, I noted that the Double-banded Plovers on Bribie Island, SE Qld, appear to have left
between Monday 23 Aug and Thur 26 Aug which seems to me to add weight to the theory that the Double-banded Plovers at Noosa have
actually departed our shores.
Cheers
Bob Inglis
Sandstone Point
Qld
Australia
http://users.tpg.com.au/inglisrc/
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