Some species are best spotted at night which is why our team recently headed to Budgerum in the hope of catching a glimpse of the elusive creatures that call these grasslands home.
Equipped with thermal cameras, head torches and spotlights, Lead Ecologist Deanna Marshall was joined by Dan Nugent – a renowned Plains-wanderer expert who knows more than most about one of the rarest species of bird in the world which we believe may exist at the property.
Over the past two years we’ve been implementing a plan to monitor for the presence of the Plains-wanderer.
Activities have included the installation of Wildlife Song Metres in 2023, programmed to record wildlife sounds for one hour at both dawn and dusk and designed to capture the Plains-wanderer call with females known to vocalise primarily during the spring season.
This night time spot lighting expedition forms part of the monitoring acknowledging how effective these creatures are at camouflage making them impossible to spot during the day, so after dark is essential.
A critically endangered bird species endemic to Australia and the last of its kind with a genetic history stretching over 100 million years and no living relatives, the Plains-wanderer has global significance ranked number one in the world for conservation importance by the London Zoological Society.
The colouration of a Plains-wanderers’ feathers perfectly blend with the colours of the soil, soil crusts and associated flora species, many of which are also threatened with extinction, including Chariot Wheels, Bristly Love-grass, Long Eryngium, Veined Peppercress and Bush Minuria.
Within these grasslands are also vulnerable fauna species including the Fat-tailed Dunnart (a small native carnivorous marsupial mouse) who is largely nocturnal to avoid the many predators active during the day including the Brown Goshawk, Brown Falcon and Black-Shouldered Kite.
For the Wilderlands conservation team, the night provides the perfect conditions for thermal monitoring with the cooling of the air helping the animals body temperature become a beacon on the thermal scope devices.
The process for this monitoring technique involves ground truthing suitable habitat in daylight hours, waiting until darkness arrives, then walking slowly a few metres apart, through areas of habitat that were determined earlier.
Within 10 minutes of the team setting out for the evening they detected some exciting activity on the thermal scope devices, with Horsfield’s Bushlark the first find of the night.
The Horsfield’s Bushlark is a grassland specialist, often seen during the day as it forages on seeds and insects on the ground. Soon afterwards a second appeared as a hotspot on the camera.
A pair of Stubble Quail were the next species to be found.
These birds are one of the larger native quail species, often favouring areas of dense grassland habitat where they feed on seeds, grass, foliage and insects.
It was, however, the small scuttling of an endangered Fat-Tailed Dunnart that caused the most excitement amongst the team.
Mostly solitary animals and nocturnal, they typically measure around 10 to 12 cm in length, including their tail, these tiny creatures rely on these grasslands for both protection as well as prey, with a diet consisting of small invertebrates, including insects and spiders.
These cute creatures play a critical part in this ecosystem and are a positive sign to see the diversity of life living across this property.
As the night’s monitoring activities drew to a close there was one more surprise in store.
As Deanna scanned the field she saw a heat spot in the distance sitting perfectly silently, she had stumbled across a Little Button-Quail.
These birds have a stout, blue-grey bill and forage mainly at night on grass seeds and insects
Whilst the evening didn’t uncover the presence of the Plains-wanderer the team are still confident we will find them across the property in time.
The high quality of the habitat provides the perfect conditions for these endangered birds and the adaptive management and monitoring activities have been made possible through Wilderlands.
To learn more about the Budgerum project make sure to visit the project page and read the annual project report released earlier this year.