THE NUMBATS ARRIVE

The numbats arrive by light plane.

Their collars are checked.

The numbats were due to arrive from Perth Zoo, via Adelaide this afternoon at about 3 o'clock. There were a few delays but they eventually arrived in a small plane about 5. They were taken to the hanger and their collars checked to see if they were working and two new collars put on. Then they were loaded into three vehicles and taken to the bush for release. The numbats were not just let go to fend for themselves. Over the past few days sites had been prepared for each numbat. Areas were selected so that each animal had a big enough range so they would not be overcrowded and competing for food. At each site logs were prepared to put the animals in and water dishes were placed near the logs. Each log was also covered by a camera trap to record the animals coming out of the log and to see if they continued to use the log as a home base. The collars were so that we could come back and check they were still alive and still in the area without disturbing the individual animals. The collars also allow the numbats to be located easily when the collars need adjusting. Sharon, a volunteer from Manildra, and I will be working with Jennifer over the next week and a half to monitor the numbats' movements. After that a new team will take over and the numbats will be monitored for a couple of months.

A numbat being released.

A numbat collar.

There are nearly 300 numbats already here at Scotia. Today's release is of another seventeen. Eleven of these have been collared. The numbats are being released into stage two. This is a fenced feral-free area, that is it does not have foxes, cats or dingos. There are a number of birds of prey in the area and these will take numbats; there are also goannas, which are opportune and may take a numbat given a chance. The vegetation is mainly mallee with a few areas of spinifex. There are a number of watering points. There are also some numbats already in the area (maybe 10 to 30), there are a few bilbies and a few kangaroos. Stage 2 is just under 4,000 hectares in area.

Being placed into a log.

The collars are made as small as possible and ideally, as with all animals they are less then 5% of the animal's body weight. This also means compromises in the case of small animals. Usually it means the battery has to be smaller or the range of the signal from the collar is less. These collars weigh 7 gms, the battery lasts about 13 months and they have a  nominal range of 250 to 300 metres, though this is very much affected by the topography of the area and climatic conditions.

Sadly, Nicholas, the young numbat we had been monitoring before this release, was found dead today. His collar was giving out a 'mortality signal', it does this when the collar has not moved for 10 hours. The collar was tracked and his body found. An early post-mortem seems to indicate he may have been attacked by a small bird of prey as the body had tear marks on it.

Note: two different collars have been used with the numbats. They vary slightly and only one type have the 'mortality signal'.

STAGE TWO AT SCOTIA

After some time off and a few thousand kilometres its back to Scotia Sanctuary to release and then monitor numbats from Perth Zoo. I was delayed a little while the car got new tyres and new brakes, not sure why as I never use the brakes. The weather was extremely hot and I pulled up the first night beside Benanee Lake, near Euston. I put up a mosquito net and left the van doors open. A cool breeze blew across the lake and through the van, it was the coolest night sleep I had had for a while. In the morning I awoke to birds chirping. It was a very pretty place and I spent a few hours here swimming, having breakfast and photographing birds.

A wood swallow at Benanee 

Then it was on to Manildra for groceries before heading out to the sanctuary. Once there I unpacked and then headed out for the night-time mala monitoring and feeding. It was very hot at Scotia. During the monitoring in my little tent the sweat was rolling down my face and despite the Aeroguard the insects gave me no peace. Monitoring only went until about 2 in the morning. Back at camp it was too hot to sleep and I found that the electricity in my block was blacked out. This wasn't good preparation for a 5am start.

An emu, spotted on the approach to Scotia.

The mala being fed at night.

The next morning we headed out to find two numbats. A young one, Nicolas, was being monitored to see if he was coping by himself. He had a collar so we located where he was sleeping and then put a camera to see if he was by himself or still with his mother. After this we looked for a female called Nana. She had not been sighted for a while. We tried to find her signal but without success. After returning to camp I was loaded up with equipment and then dropped back in the area where Nana was last spotted. I had a back pack with water and food and a snake bandage. I had a hand radio, a satellite phone, a GPS and the telemetry box and aerial. I also took my camera. The next few very hot hours were spent walking transects through the bush scanning for the missing numbat. I didn't have any success.

A sand goanna.

In the afternoon the rest of the volunteers went out to set up logs and water dishes for the new numbats arriving. I was left at camp because I had just come back and was due to do telemetry for the mala that night. Unfortunately an electrical storm came over and the telemetry had to be called off. 

Birds using a favoured watering point

Early next morning we again set out and found Nicholas and put a new camera at the entrance to the burrow he had slept in. Then I joined the team doing numbat surveys as they were one member short. Louise and Megan drive around the dirt roads at 10 to 15 km/hour and try to spot numbats and goannas. They record the position of any they find. This goes on for about 4 hours. This morning we saw a lot of goannas but no numbats. Usually they do see at least one each day, and one day they saw some juveniles playing and were able to take some good pictures. More storms and the monitoring was again cancelled, though we still had to go out and feed the mala. Despite the storms it is still extremely hot here during the day and the night. Sleeping is difficult.