Hooded Plover
I spent the last few days at a family gathering up the East Coast, so I didn't do the usual amount of birding. But I did manage an hour at the Orford Spit on the way there, and these images are the result. So this blog is, unashamedly, about photos of Hooded Plover. That I was able to get much closer than usual to these 
birds, was largely as a result of a confrontation between a flock of about 7 plovers, all in adult plumage, except the juvenile shown in the bottom 2 shots, and the resident pair. The resident pair eventually drove the flock away, in this case toward me. They were reluctant to get too close to me, but the robust defence o
f their territory by the residents, made them realise that getting close to me was the soft option! I was rather fortunate that the lighting wa
s excellent, as from previous experience, photographing birds with black heads and light coloured bodies can be very tricky. While at the Orford Spit, I also noted what appeared to be the 2 remaining pairs of Fairy Tern, and at least one flying juvenile. Further up the coast at Little Swanport, there were around 28 Fairy Terns present in an area where they have previously bred. However, I couldn't determine whether they were in fact breeding there.
I spent the last few days at a family gathering up the East Coast, so I didn't do the usual amount of birding. But I did manage an hour at the Orford Spit on the way there, and these images are the result. So this blog is, unashamedly, about photos of Hooded Plover. That I was able to get much closer than usual to these 
birds, was largely as a result of a confrontation between a flock of about 7 plovers, all in adult plumage, except the juvenile shown in the bottom 2 shots, and the resident pair. The resident pair eventually drove the flock away, in this case toward me. They were reluctant to get too close to me, but the robust defence o
f their territory by the residents, made them realise that getting close to me was the soft option! I was rather fortunate that the lighting wa
s excellent, as from previous experience, photographing birds with black heads and light coloured bodies can be very tricky. While at the Orford Spit, I also noted what appeared to be the 2 remaining pairs of Fairy Tern, and at least one flying juvenile. Further up the coast at Little Swanport, there were around 28 Fairy Terns present in an area where they have previously bred. However, I couldn't determine whether they were in fact breeding there.
Great shots of the 'Hoodies', Alan. We've seen the residents at Orford, but not the 'interlopers' before. I wonder where they have come from. Last year, we visited a beach ("Two ile Beach", I think) near Tasman's Monument, out from Dunalley, and saw one Adult and 7 Juvenile Hoddies there, so maybe that group continues to breed well, and they're dispersing as far as Orford??
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