Some good news for Hooded Plovers, the Montforts chick was still alive on the 4th of Jan 2013, (C/o Diane Lewis) and the latest on the St Andrews chicks: they were also with us on the 2nd of Jan 2013 (C/o Parks Victoria).

Unfortunately this blog was unable to load great pictures of the Montforts chick unless we agreed to: not have any negative comments about Parks Victoria.  That was difficult because Parks Victoria virtually ignored the Montforts chicks the moment they hatched.

For the first 11 days of their feeble existence after hatching from an egg smaller than a 20 cent coin, Parks Victoria could not put a laminated A4 sign on a post in a car park, let alone further along the track to the beach or actually on the beach.  The chicks were on their own in a National Park dealing with dogs off lead. No, this is not a third world nation, it’s Australia!

In light of the restriction using photographs of the chick at Montforts, I have drawn a quick sketch of how the chick should appear at < 35 days compared to an adult. All being well this little chick and its parents can celebrate a good 2013.