Elected representatives in government are in charge of the policy and funding that can make or break saving threatened species. Their decisions and actions matter.

Melbourne has or used to have 18 threatened animals within its boundaries. One of them is me, the Eastern Hooded Plover.

We took care to attach appropriate images that are as close to representative of each species as our resources and the availability of images allowed. However, we could not ensure perfect accuracy in every case. Some images show species that share the same genus but not at the species or subspecies level.

Eastern Hooded Plover

Thinornis cucullatus cucullatus

Status: Vulnerable

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) lists threatened species under six categories:
Extinct, Extinct in the wild, Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Conservation dependent. Read more about these categories

Thinornis cucullatus cucullatus is found across 34 electorates.

The hooded plover is a small Australian beach nesting bird. It mainly occurs on wide beaches backed by dunes with large amounts of seaweed and jetsam, creek mouths and inlet entrances. Nests are found above the high water mark on flat beaches, on stony terraces, or on sparsely vegetated dunes. As the hooded plover occurs on beaches, it is easily disturbed by human activities, particularly off-leash domestic dogs.¹

Explore more about this species on the Atlas of Living Australia

Climate change and severe weather