Australians love the beach. Every summer hundreds of thousands of us descend upon our beaches in a pilgrimage that is both a rite of passage and a ritualistic confirmation of national identity. But is there a down side to this passion, especially for the animals that call the beach their home?

The Rip to River Classic is one of the oldest fun runs in Australia, held along the beach between Point Lonsdale and Ocean Grove in Victoria after Christmas for the past 39 years. Hundreds of people choose to shake off festive season hangovers and run 10km of ocean beach to raise funds for the Ocean Grove Surf Lifesaving Club.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Portsea back beach during a surf carnival. Photograph: Glenn Ehmke/BirdLife Australia

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The scene at the finish line is chaotically festive. A PA blares in front of the surf club, which is going through a major reconstruction. A throng of spectators mill about the tired runners. There are even food trucks. Local MP and Victorian minister for police, Lisa Neville, is there to hand out prizes and hold a press conference to open an observation tower on what she says is Victoria’s most heavily visited beach. Her announcement is overshadowed by questions from the media contingent about violence on city beaches.

But the beach can be a harsh place for other reasons too.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A juvenile hooded plover. Photograph: Glenn Ehmke/BirdLife Australia

Take hooded plovers – dapper little birds that skitter across the sand of our southern surf beaches. With dainty orange legs that whirr underneath as if they were a child’s wind-up toy, hooded plovers seek out small bugs and tiny sea creatures hidden among the seaweed on the tideline left by the surf, or venture into the wash left by the crashing waves.

They nest on the beaches too, though nest is a relative term. It’s more a shallow scrape in the sand with perhaps a sprinkle of seaweed or shells here for disguise. It’s a hazardous – and to us seemingly ridiculous – nesting strategy, exposed to the elements, tidal surges and passing predators. The parent birds place their faith in the ability of the eggs and chicks to blend in to their surrounds, and head off in the other direction, often pretending to be injured in an attempt to distract nest raiders away.

On a hot summer’s day, the parent birds wet their feathers in the water and scurry back to sit on their eggs to cool them down. If we are sitting on a towel near the nest, or just walking too close, they won’t approach, and the eggs will bake. That’s if they’re not discovered by a gull, a raven or a wandering dog first. To be honest, it’s a surprise that any hooded plovers have survived on our crowded beaches at all.

But it’s a bird with many friends.

Local volunteers got up early to stand guard over one of the hooded plover nests at the starting line of the Rip to River at Point Lonsdale. Their presence ensured the runners stayed down on the hard sand of the waveline to avoid spooking the incubating birds.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Volunteers keep runners away from the plover nests. Photograph: Sean Dooley/BirdLife Australia

They are part of a wider volunteer network that station themselves on beaches from South Australia to New South Wales, working with BirdLife Australia researchers to monitor nests and erect fences, signs and shelters to shield the seriously adorable chicks from the blazing sun once they have hatched. They also educate beachgoers about the plovers, which for all their cuteness, are so unobtrusive they usually go unnoticed.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A hooded plover chick. Photograph: Glenn Ehmke/BirdLife Australia

The program is meeting with great success. BirdLife’s recent analysis confirms that on managed beaches with an active volunteer presence, the likelihood of hooded plovers successfully raising a chick has increased tenfold.

The run too goes off without a hitch. The incubating plovers barely raise their heads as the runners stream past. The volunteers cheer the runners on and are greeted with warm waves from the mob on the tideline.

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It has been 10 years since the surf club began working with the volunteers to ensure the run itself now poses no threat to the birds. However, other more random events continue to take a toll. In the brief time I was with the volunteers, two unleashed dogs bounded through the middle of the nesting territory. And then there is the disturbed individual who has been systematically vandalising signs, fences and equipment on the local beaches.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A hooded plover chick in a shelter. Photograph: Glenn Ehmke/BirdLife Australia

Further along the coast near Warrnambool, it is racing of another kind that is threatening one of the richest stretches of coastline for hooded plovers in Victoria. While Neville is a long-time supporter of her local community’s efforts to rally around the plovers, the Andrews government has just allowed an alteration to planning rules to allow commercial trainers to exercise up to 160 racehorses on those key hooded plover beaches.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A banded adult. Photograph: Glenn Ehmke/BirdLife Australia

The hooded plover is a resilient bird – most pairs will attempt to rebuild after each nest failure. The volunteers who guard over them are likewise tenacious and unstinting in their efforts to ensure our love of the beach extends to the plucky little birds that need it even more than we do.