How solar-powered sensors and bio-acoustic devices will help protect threatened species on Coorabulka Station
Cameras and bio-acoustic recorders may be the last thing you expect to see on the rolling grass plains and ancient red sands of western Queensland’s vast cattle stations. Still, these devices gather vital information about threatened species, including the kowari, greater bilby and Plains-wanderer.
In 2023, the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) secured a Threatened Species Research Grant to run a monitoring program on the North Australian Pastoral Company’s (NAPCo) Coorabulka Station. By June 2024, the team had installed 60 sites across the 629,000-hectare property.
AWC Regional Operations Manager Wayne Sparrow explained each site has a sensor camera and bio-acoustic device, both powered by a solar panel, detecting and recording audio and image data.
“The equipment is capable of 24-hour data recording because the threatened species we are monitoring are cryptic and largely active at night, making them difficult to monitor,” Mr Sparrow said.
“Over the next 24 months, the program will provide much-needed information about the Plains-wanderer, kowari and bilby.
By understanding the species’ distribution and status across this property, we can plan and implement large-scale conservation land management actions in tandem with NAPCo’s commercial pastoral operation.”
AWC’s Dr Alexander Watson and Hayden de Villiers led the installation with assistance from a Birdlife Australia employee, NAPCo station staff and a volunteer.
"We carefully stratified the monitoring sites by habitat and paddock, ensuring comprehensive coverage across the entire property,” Dr Watson said.
“Over 9 long days in June, we installed all the monitoring sites. We enclosed the 2 monitoring devices with 3 fence panels held down by droppers in each corner to stop cattle from pushing into or trampling over any equipment.”
The team averaged around 7 sites a day, depending on driving conditions. On some days, they travelled more than 300km on roads not used in years.
“The long drives were made easier by some great sightings of Letter-winged kites taking flight along creek lines and hovering above us in the gentle outback breeze,” Dr Watson said.
“The team’s excitement grew as the unique arid species revealed themselves, including species like the inland dotterel and the kowari spotlit by the headlights at night.”
The team took an hour to set up the first site, working through all the deployment checklists, confirming satellites were detected and SD cards were recording data at the correct kHz. Eventually, each deployment took 15 minutes, with everyone assigned tasks and working together.
“When we left a site, we would chat about the likely detection of species, anticipating the data to be retrieved and analysed over the next couple of years,” Dr Watson said.
“While the remoteness makes fieldwork challenging and access infrequent, this 24-hour surveillance will fill the knowledge gap about the threatened species on this property.”
While the grant funded the remote-sensing equipment, financial and significant in-kind support from AWC and NAPCo covered the equipment’s deployment. The next step is to service the installations in September 2024 to ensure they are working and have remained robust to field conditions. This service will also provide some early data.
Frontier Labs, a specialist bioacoustics company based in South East Queensland, built the solar bio-acoustic recorders, modifying them to protect them from western Queensland’s temperature variations and animal disturbances.
AWC will then analyse the images gathered at each site using AI technology. The audio data will be processed with an open-source recogniser developed by the Queensland University of Technology.
In addition to surveying threatened species, the program will collect data on the threats they face and contribute to the landscape-scale cat control project in the Channel Country, led by our department and Desert Channels Queensland.