Plains wanderer researchers set song meters to find elusive bird
RESEARCHERS will hit the record button on a series of listening devices in the bush west of Broken Hill on a mission to track down one of the desert’s more elusive residents.
LISTENING for the call of the critically endangered plains-wanderer will help ecologists learn more about the whereabouts and habits of this elusive bird.
At Boolcoomatta Station Reserve, 100km west of Broken Hill in outback SA, Bush Heritage researchers have installed 30 hi-tech song meters and hit “record”.
The plains-wanderer makes several different bird calls: a repeated, low pitched "oo"; a soft "chuck" for calling chicks when danger threatens; a gentle "irr-irr" to soothe chicks; and a "pie-pie-pie" to summon chicks.
Bush Heritage arid Rangelands ecologist Graeme Finlayson said the project was an exciting step towards improving the understanding of the plains-wanderer.
“Boolcoomatta spans 63,000 hectares so these song meters allow us to survey a vast area in a non-invasive and cost-effective way,” he said.
“The recordings will shed some light on the presence of plains-wanderers at Boolcoomatta so we can direct our management to benefit them.”
The song meter technology, funded by a grant from the Letcombe Trust, records audio that is then analysed for plains-wanderer calls by special software.
Each of the 30 song meters has been bird-proofed and installed inside a wire cage to protect it from animal interference.
There were eight sightings of Plains-wanderers at Boolcoomatta across three months in 2016 by Bush Heritage science intern Emily Mathews.