Email: click here (enquiries@wildwise.com.au)
Potorous tridactylus tridactylus captured by motion-sensor camera
Antechinus sp.
Podargus strigoides
Our current interests include:
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- We are working on our own biodiversity repair project. Our property at Swanfels was cleared in the 1870’s. It once was dry rainforest, described by Alan Cunningham when he camped in the area. This was in the 1820’s on his “discovery” of the Darling Downs. Within 80 years of his exploration, the ancient dry rainforest communities of the western slopes of the Range were gone. The rich basaltic soils laid bare for the cow and the plough.
- We have planted 6500 trees in the eight years that the 39 acre property has been in our care. The work continues. We are re-establishing structure and connectivity and we have already seen an incredible increase in bird abundance and diversity.
- We currently collaborate on an interesting project to further our understanding of Eastern Ground Parrots on the Sunshine Coast. We are using our BAR units to build a database of dawn and dusk chorus recordings. These are being used to improve our understanding of the variability within these calling periods. We aim to describe the variability (day-to-day and seasonal) in these chorus vocalisations. By publishing our findings, we hope to improve confidence in acoustic techniques as providing cost-effective, low-impact and robust monitoring data for the Eastern Ground Parrot.
- An exciting discovery of the elusive Long-nosed Potoroo (Potorous tridactylus tridactylus), (listed as Vulnerable under the NCA 1992 and EPBC 1999) was made whilst looking for Quolls in the Mary River Headwaters back in 2009, using motion-sensor cameras. Sadly there were no quoll images but the potoroo had not been seen in the area since 2005 either. This sparked a lot of interest, and since then several motion-sensor camera surveys have been carried out in search of them, mainly in the Blackall Range. It has been a joint effort between us, Dr Scott Burnett (USC lecturer), and Land for Wildlife Officers from the Sunshine Coast Council (SCC). And, we have had success! They have been detected on cameras deployed in Reesville, Elaman Creek, and recently (Jan 2018) in a SCC reserve in Kureelpa. We knew a dribble of truffle oil would help lure them in to the cameras, but they are equally attracted to peanut butter. If we can continue to increase our knowledge of where they are still residing, and in what types of habitat, we can better understand how to protect them. We will continue to monitor Long-nosed Potoroos in the Blackall Range, and investigate the best methods for surveying them with the non-invasive use of our motion-sensor cameras. We also now have some very avid conservationists with potoroos living on their Land for Wildlife property in Reesville, who are keen to help us further our knowledge and allowing us access to continue surveying them. We are very grateful for this.
- Yes, Coxen’s Fig Parrot does exist… We have seen them! Our bird acoustic recorders (BAR, frontier labs) are always in the field. When they are not collecting acoustic data for commercial projects, our BAR units are deployed in strategic locations that may be visited by Coxen’s Fig Parrots. We deploy our BAR units with recording parameters that will allow for eventual analysis with call recognition software. This is a long-term project of open collaboration with interested land-owners and ornithologists.
- Bushcare – Community Nature Conservation Program on the fourth Sunday of every month we volunteer for the Sunshine Coast Council Community Volunteer Group.
Giant Barred Frog (Mixophyes iteratus)
Regeneration plantings for biodiversity repair to re-establish structure and connectivity
Eucalyptus argophloia - planted at the farm at Swanfels in 2012
Eucalyptus argophloia - after 4 years of growth
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