Birdwatchers were flocking to Noosa for a chance to sight a rare Hooded Plover and Arctic Tern on the Noosa estuary.

The birds were spotted by a team of volunteer birdwatcher earlier this month and whilst the Hooded Plover has been seen regularly at the same spot over the past few weeks the Arctic Tern hasn’t been sighted again.

Shorebird expert Jill Dening said it was the second ever recorded sighting in Queensland of a Hooded Plover with the bird’s northernmost  range at Nowra just south of Sydney.

Ms Dening said the bird sightings were causing a lot of excitement in the bird world.

“To see a Hooded Plover in Queensland is an absolute rarity,” she said.

“It is an absolute’ wow’ bird.”

Ms Dening said  she and a team of volunteers undertook monthly surveys of bird numbers and species in the Noosa  estuary, but that she was not present on the day of the rare sightings.

She said the team of volunteers was amazed to discover these two rare birds on the same day and immediately took photographs.

“None of the team had ever seen these birds before and they were truly, truly amazed,” Ms Dening said.

“They didn’t even dare to try to guess the identification of the Arctic Tern as only a couple of recordings occur in Australia each year.”

Ms Dening said the Arctic Tern was very difficult to identify and the photograph was currently undergoing verification through Birds Queensland and the Birds Australia rarities committees.

She said young birds undertake ‘juvenile dispersal’ where they  are pushed out of their territory by the adult bird and left to find their own territory.

She believes the birds probably got caught up in the unusual weather patterns which affected New South Wales a few weeks ago and mistakenly ended up in Noosa.

“Coastal birds often get caught out in weather events and it remains to be seen how long the Hooded Plover will stay around,” Ms Dening said.

The Hooded Plover sighted on Noosa estuary recently.  Photo by Bob Inglis.

Project Manager Environmental Initiatives Sunshine Coast Council Ben McMullen said the bird sightings were confirmation of the outstanding environmental values which were found in the Noosa Biosphere Reserve.

He said the Noosa estuary was an example of an area where there was a high recreational demand from members of the community and visitors to share the area with a fragile and vulnerable species.

“There is a need for all of us to be mindful of the delicate relationship between human activity and environmental values in the biosphere reserve,” Mr McMullen said.

“The onus is on us as stewards for the conservation of these values which are at great threat across the planet.”

In the meantime birdwatchers were still looking for another sighting of the Arctic Tern.

Ms Dening urged birdwatchers and nature lovers interested in looking for the birds to respect their habitat and be careful of birds nesting in the dunes.