Reintroduction Blog - Trapping Session Two
- Thursday 30 April 2009
- Wednesday 29 April 2009
- Tuesday 28 April 2009
- Monday 27 April 2009
- Sunday 26 April 2009
- Saturday 25 April 2009 Anzac Day
- Friday 24 April 2009
- Thursday 23 April 2009
- Wednesday 22 April 2009
- Tuesday 21 April 2009
- Monday 20 April 2009
Thursday 30 April 2009
Last night was a disappointing end to the trapping session without any further wombats being trapped.
This trapping session trapped as many wombats as the last trapping session, however only 1 sub-adult female and 1 adult male were collared.
Recapping that brings us to:
- adult males 3
- sub-adult males 2
- adult female 1
- sub-adult female 1
We will need to do a 3rd session commencing 18th May.
Next week we are at Yarran Downs to dig some starter burrows and finish the floppy top of the fence!
Wednesday 29 April 2009
A sub-adult male was trapped last night. He was in good condition (3.5/5 on the body condition score). What is interesting and good news about this is that the wombat was caught at a burrow complex using one of the new rope netting fencing. As earlier discussed this netting gives us more flexibility with respect to what burrows we trap.
5 wombats were seen on the road last night so they are there.
Out and about but avoiding our traps!
Photo: DERM
Tuesday 28 April 2009
No wombats trapped however we did trap the usual suspects of other species and 4 wombats were seen on the road.
On another note, Harry had caught a Gould's wattled bat and a little broad-nosed bat in a harp trap he had set up; very interesting animals.
Much of the team spent the day slashing strips to burrows and whipper-snipping. We also captured some footage of the trapping as well as some of the background work (e.g. checking the transmitters) for potential use in the documentary
Monday 27 April 2009
Two young wombats were trapped last night however neither were suitable for translocation. The first a sub-adult male weighing 22kgs, the second one of our collared male wombats.
Sunday 26 April 2009
Only 3 swamp wallabies and a rabbit to report.
Saturday 25 April 2009 Anzac Day
It was a busy night with swamp wallabies and an eastern grey kangaroo trapped.
At 6 am a wombat was trapped (going to the dawn service perhaps?). He is a juvenile male at just over 12kgs. He wasn't in as good condition as others trapped this year scoring 2/5 on the body scale. On the positive he was carrying only a light parasite load.
After the dawn service we released him back into his burrow. Still early morning.
Photo: DERM
Friday 24 April 2009
"Brisk" is the word from Epping, just before 7 am this morning the temperature dropped which is good for those just about to go to bed after the night shift.
No wombats were trapped last night, though there were plenty of call outs with an eastern grey kangaroo, 3 swamp wallabies, 2 echidnas and a cane toad setting the traps off.
Thursday 23 April 2009
No wombats last night but oodles of swamp wallabies.
One advantage of all the call outs for the swamp wallabies, was that Tim saw a wombat walking down the road on two of the trips.
The other interesting thing is that at lunch a whistling kite was heard. Looking around there wasn't any sign of a whistling kite but the resident spotted bower bird was mimicking the kite. The bower bird is well known as it will steal things from the kitchen given half a chance.
The spotted bower bird's bower. Zoom in and you can see items such as a screw and a bolt.
Photo: DERM
Wednesday 22 April 2009
The 8.45 pm call out was for a sub-adult male who had not been trapped before. We thanked him for his consideration in terms of an early start. He is 22.9kgs and in good condition. We did not collar him choosing instead to save one of the 2 remaining smaller collars in case a more suitable smaller female wombat presented herself later this session.
At 9.50 pm the next call came. This time it was for an adult male. He also had not been trapped before and was in good condition (scoring 4/5 on the body condition scale and weighing 31.8kgs). His collar has 4 small dots making a square shape.
Into bed for most of the crew at 1.30 am but the night didn't end there. The trap set off on Monday night by a cane toad was set off last night by an eastern grey kangaroo; from one hopping extreme to the other. A false alarm and another non-wombat kept the inspection team busy all night.
21 traps were set yesterday and all the transmitter problems fixed.
Note the tall white aerial (right of the photo) which sends the signal if the trap goes off. The boundary fence is on the left.
Photo: DERM
Tuesday 21 April 2009
It was a surprisingly crisp night at Epping last night after such a beautiful warm day. After talking to Gail (who had done the graveyard shift), I'll be taking up a spare jumper for her when I go next Monday.
Success, last night a sub-adult female about 26.2kgs was trapped around 3 am. She had not been trapped before and is the 167th female trapped. Her collar is marked with a lightening strike. Another animal in fabulous condition, she scored 4 out of 5 on the body condition scale.
Note the lightening strike marking on the collar.
Photo: DERM
The second wombat trapped last night was a veteran. He is M23, that's the 23rd male ever trapped and is at least 26 years old, now the oldest known wild wombat. Last night, he weighed 31.4kgs and was a body condition score of 3, also good. Given his age, we decided that he wasn't suitable for the reintroduction and to leave him at Epping.
As you can see he still is in good condition.
Photo: DERM
There were two non-wombats call outs. The first signal went off at the furthest burrow at 7 o'clock so tea was abandoned. What greeted the party that had gone to check was a big fat cane toad. Disappointed is one way of describing their reaction. The second call for a non-wombat was for a swamp wallaby in one of the burrows on Comben Court.
On the way back from the sub-adult female, the crew spotted a bettong by the side of the road. As Tim approached it, it ignored him and started foraging. This behaviour could be explained by it living in an area that is predator free.
Recapping that brings us to 6 collared animals:
- 2 adult males
- 2 sub-adult males
- 1 adult female
- 1 sub-adult female
In the intervening fortnight since the last trapping trip, the caretakers tracked all bar one of the collared animals. None of those tracked had moved far from the burrow that they were caught in. It will be a priority for us to radio track the last animal.
The crew had set up a further 22 traps mostly in the northern section of the park yesterday. There were a few problems with receivers that will be overcome today by using longer poles.
Monday 20 April 2009
The crew arrived back at Epping around lunch yesterday and managed to put out 6 traps to start the session rolling.
As usual for a first night, no wombats were caught.
However as it was Harry's first trip and it was the first night, he Andrew and Deb went to look at some frogs. They went in the polaris and had the vehicle headlights and their headlamps but no spotlights. (We don't spotlight when trapping is on). A wombat is seen just ahead, they stop and the wombat keeps going straight past them in a cloud of dust. The dust lands in the polaris and they get the impression of a large healthy female.
Last updated: 19 May 2009
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