Feral Cat – Friends of Tarra-Bulga National Park

Lyrebird Numbers Up, Brush Bronze-wing Population Explodes!

by Tarra Bulga26/04/201510/06/2019Leave a comment

Friends of Tarra-Bulga have now been using remote cameras within the park to monitor wildlife for over three years. The table below shows results adjusted for the number of days cameras have been active in the field. We currently have eight cameras that are moved around to different sites on a regular basis. As of January 2015 the cameras had spent a combined total of over 5000 days in the field and were triggered by animal movements over 10,000 times.

Feral Cat with a Sugar Glider — Feral Cat numbers have risen

The results show a number of interesting trends. For mammals most species have not varied much in the frequency of sightings over the 3 years with a few exceptions. There was a large jump in Koala sightings in 2014 most were at one site where a Koala developed a routine of passing by every couple of days. Feral Cat numbers have risen each year and Ring-tailed Possum sightings seem to have declined. (the figures for Ring-tails have been influenced heavily by one popular site).

There has been a massive jump in the numbers of birds that the cameras are detecting. The number Lyrebirds passing cameras have doubled each year. Bassian Thrush (Zoothera lunulata) sightings increased around 600% in 2014 and Brush Bronze-wing numbers skyrocketed from only 15 sightings in 2013 up to 404. Crimson Rosellas, Eastern Whipbirds, Pilotbirds and *Common Blackbirds all had a significant rise in detection. Two smaller species the White-browed Scrubwren and the Superb Fairy Wren were also ‘captured’ more often.

We have had massive increase in the number of Brush Bronzewings recorded.

A reason for the jump in bird numbers may be due to camera placement. One site used in 2014 was very popular for ground dwelling bird, however this does not fully explain the rise, other camera sites were used in both years and showed a big increase ground dwelling birds from 2013. Fox control efforts in recent years may also be a factor helping the birds numbers increase. Our results have picked up a small rise in Fox numbers over the last few years. As our monitoring continues, time will tell if this greater abundance of bird sightings will be maintained.

Species	2012	2013	2014
Lyrebird	319	618	1239
Bassian Thrush	136	135	639
White-browed Scrubwren	61	49	181
Eastern Whipbird	21	14	98
Pilotbird	14	35	93
Satin Bowerbird	14	5	2
Crimson Rosella	5	5	195
Grey Currawong	5	11	16
Olive Whistler	5	9	5
Brush Bronzewing	2	15	404
Eastern Yellow Robin	2	3	8
Fantail, Rufous	2	2	5
Grey Shrike-Thrush	2	3	6
Magpie	2	0	0
Pied Currawong	2	4	7
Superb Fairy-wren	2	3	45
Wedge tailted Eagle	2	0	0
Brown Gerygone	0	0	1
Brown Thornbill	0	2	0
Common Bronzewing	0	1	4
Fantail, Grey	0	2	0
Kookaburra	0	6	3
Raven Species	0	1	3
Tawny Frogmouth	0	0	2
White Throated Tree-creeper	0	0	3
Fox	131	220	229
Rabbit	126	39	24
Common Blackbird	19	10	125
Feral Cat	16	33	64
Human	0	0	1
Swamp Wallaby	513	947	761
Long Nosed Bandicoot	197	81	185
Brushtail Possum	176	171	169
Wombat	138	160	120
Rattus Species	82	146	152
Antechinus	54	73	59
Echidna	16	16	43
Ring-tailed Possum	5	58	20
Koala	2	9	81
Dog	0	1	1
Sugar Glider	0	3	1
Unidentifiable Bird	103	101	119
Small Mammal – Unidentifiable	47	67	44
Large Mammal – Unidentifiable	33	16	29

Remote Camera Monitoring March 2013

by Tarra Bulga06/04/201314/06/20133 Comments

Camera 1- Has been repaired after Lyrebird attack and will be back in action ASAP.

Camera 2 – is still placed in an area that has quite prolific wildlife sightings.

This month it captured a variety of birds, which surprisingly is not always the case given the diversity of species in the park. Birds pictured were the Yellow Robin, Crimson Rosella, Grey Shrike-thrush, Satin Bowerbird, Lyrebird, White-browed Scrub-wren and the Bassian Thrush, Also picked up some nice photos of Some very active Brushtails, Antechinus, Wombats and Echidnas. On the down side there was a feral Cat sneaking Foxes around and no sign of any Bandicoots. Apologies to the Wallabies we spotted having a rather private moment.

White-browed Scrub-wren

Wallaby with Bulging Pouch

Possum on Hind Legs

Lyrebird

Feral Cat

Echidna

Eastern Yellow-robin

Crimson Rosella

Brush-tail Possum

Bassian Thrush

Antechinus

Amorous Male Swamp Wallaby closely behind female.

Camera 3 – Was on a steep slope and this month produced a lot more photos, probably due to just a slight change of position which was aimed at more level ground. Grey Currawongs were hanging around the site along with Antechinus, Lyrebirds, Brushtail’s and Echindna’s. This was a much better result than the last time where only Foxes, Wallabies and Lyrebirds were detected.

Tarra Bulga South Central – Species Count

Antechinus

Brush-tail Possum

Grey Currawong

Unidentified Rodent Species

Camera 4 – Was located at a site that was also surprisingly busy given that has a lower diversity because it is an area of shrubby regrowth forest with a ground cover of only bark, leaf litter and bare soil. Grey Currawongs again seemed to be active at the moment; Brush Bronzewings seem to like this area as well as Lyrebirds (sometimes in pairs). Crimson Rosellas, Eastern Whip-birds and Bassian Thrushes were also spotted. Wombats, Wallabies and Antechinus were the main mammals along with visits by two Feral Cats and a Fox. The results were similar to last time and the camera has now been moved into some different habitat.

Balook West - Camera 4 — Balook West – Camera 4, Species Counts

Another good shot of the Lyrebird

Antechinus

Bassian Thrush

Female Lyrebird

Feral Cat 2

Feral Cat

Fox

Pair of young Crimson Rosellas

Rodent on Tree

Male Superb Lyrebird 2

Superb Lyrebird

Swamp Wallaby

Unidentified Bird.jpg possibly grey shrike thrush

Unidentified bird possibly grey shrike thrush

Camera 5 This camera was located at the bottom of a damp fern gully, With only 400 photos in the six week period it was actually a bit quieter than some of the other locations, although there was a lot of Brush-tailed possum activity (Good spot for Powerful Owls to get some tucker!!) and a lot of Pilotbird activity. Other Mammal species were an unidentified rodent, Antechinus, Wallabies and the ubiquitous Foxes (which were seen at all 7 Camera sites scattered around the park).

Young Swamp Wallaby

Rear of a Brush-tail Possum

Headless Brush-tail

Fox

Evening Lyrebird

Brushtail Possum

Bassian Thrush

Antechinus hiding under a branch

Camera 6 – Is a site located close to old-growth forest, it has deep leaf litter on the ground. Surprisingly we haven’t been picking up a lot of diversity here. There has been lots of Lyrebirds photographed as well as Wallabies and Foxes but little else. Potentially the camera is too high to pick up smaller species. I have made an adjustment to see if it makes any difference.

Tarra Bulga North West - Species Count — Tarra Bulga North West – Species Count

Fox

Swamp Wallaby

Camera 7 – Was in the same place as last time and once again it was prolific even though the vegetation is mainly scrubby regrowth with no large canopy trees. Again there were lots of cute mother Wallaby and Joey in pouch photos. There were more good shots of Long-nosed Bandicoots and Lyrebirds. Other birds were Pied Currawongs and Grey shrike-Thrushes. There were some busy Wombats and some handsome looking but evil Foxes no doubt sniffing around for a meal of fresh Bandicoot.

Balook West - Species Count — Balook West – Species Count

Wallabies

Wombat

Wallaby Mother

Very Long-nosed Bandicoot

Unidentified Bird

Tail sticking out of Pouch

Pied Currawongs

Pair of Lyrebirds

Lyrebird

Long-nosed Bandicoot

Wallaby with Passenger

Fox

Common Wombat

Bandicoot

Camera 8 –No sign of any snakes this time, but similar results to last time at this site which was on the Eastern edge of Tarra Bulga. Lots of Lyrebird activity, Wombats, Wallabies and Echidnas as well as some Long-nosed Bandicoots and Foxes.

Lyrebird 2

Lyrebird

Swamp Wallaby

Remote Camera Monitoring – Update Summer 2013

by Tarra Bulga11/03/201326/03/20144 Comments

This post is a summary of the Remote Camera Monitoring results over December and January 2012/13

Camera 1 – Still out of action after it was attacked by an aggressive lyrebird.

Lyrebird who got overly interested in one of our Remote Cameras

Camera 2 – Located in mature Wet Forest in the Tarra Valley was quite a prolific site, with the camera picking up lots of small birds e.g. White-browed Scrub Wrens and Bassian and Grey-Shrike Thrushes, as well as mammals such as Antechinus and Long-nosed Bandicoots, unfortunately there were plenty of Foxes and a Feral Cat present. Also plenty of Wombats, Wallabies and some Brushtails.

Bassian Thrush - Well Camoflagued — Bassian Thrush – Well Camoflagued

Swamp Wallaby - Grooming its tail. — Swamp Wallaby – Grooming its tail.

Tarra Valley – Remote Camera Site

by Tarra Bulga28/07/201228/07/20121 Comment

We recently moved one of our cameras down to a site in the Tarra Valley section of the park, to get a better idea of what wildlife is hanging around there. After the camera was checked the first time we had plenty of shots of Swamp Wallabies but nothing else apart from foxes. The camera was then moved a few metres to a new position where it could be set closer to the ground and the difference in the number of species photographed was quite remarkable. There are some great Long-nosed Bandicoot photos along with Antechinus and Rattus pictures, an Echidna and Possums (Not certain whether they are the Common Brush Tailed Possum of the Mountain Brush Tail (Bobuck) or whether we have both, The Bobuck’s have smaller more rounded ears.

Unfortunately there are still plenty of introduced predators at this site with Foxes and Feral Cats present. We have been recording quite a few cats with our monitoring lately.

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