Hooded dotterel - Thinornis cucullatus
The species has been listed as Vulnerable in South Australia. There are 12 birds who stay around the beach along Franklin Parade , Encounter Bay and use the area as a feeding ground. Appearently only one pair will nest in the area. . Some of the birds have been ringed the National Parks Researchers..
Each year an area along the beach is fenced off to give the birds a chance to successfully rear young.
The hooded dotterel is a species of bird in the family Charadriidae. It is endemic to southern Australia and Tasmania where it inhabits ocean beaches and subcoastal lagoons. There are two recognised subspecies which form isolated eastern and western populations. The eastern subspecies is of greater conservation concern, with listings varying from Vulnerable in South Australia and Victoria to Critically Endangered in New South Wales.
