Thermal-imaging drones are revealing new koala hotspots across Lake Macquarie as Council harnesses technology to better understand local populations of the iconic marsupial.
Lake Macquarie City Council has engaged locally based Nightvision Ecology to survey more than 600ha of bush around Awaba, Toronto, and Dora Creek, home to prime koala habitat.
Two other ecological contractors are conducting surveys around Mandalong and Wyee.
Manager Environmental Systems Daniel Woods said sniffer dog surveys and other detection methods had been used elsewhere in the LGA to uncover an estimated population of up to 2000 local koalas living in the forest canopy.
Most identified prior to the deployment of the thermal imaging drones were concentrated around Mount Sugarloaf, West Wallsend, Killingworth and Teralba.
"We know Toronto, Awaba and other areas in the city's southwest also hold significant numbers of food and habitat trees for koalas, but until now we haven't had any solid data pointing to presence of koalas or a persistent population in those areas," Mr Woods said.
Enter the large quadcopter drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras, spotlights and a zoom lens to capture details from a distance.
The drones are launched in the evening as the bush cools and the heat signatures of resident fauna become more prominent.
Surveys are being conducted over public land, and private properties around Mandalong where landowners have granted their permission.
Mr Callander said thermal imaging flights had revealed six koalas, as well as gliders, a threatened owl species and a pair of threatened glossy black cockatoos.
"Most promising of all was the fact that two of those koalas were a mother and joey, which suggests these aren't animals just passing through - it's an established, breeding population," he said.
Nightvision Ecology Director Stephen Mahony said that in his experience, the presence of the six koalas detected so far meant others were almost certainly nearby.
"Drones have a good detection probability, but you can still miss some and there are likely also more in the areas adjacent to where we are surveying," he said.
"They also enable access to steep and hard-to-reach parts of a site and rapidly cover large areas."
The drone surveys are expected to continue next month, with the information collected helping Council build a clearer picture of koala distribution and habitat use across the city.
"This information will provide an important evidence base for future conservation and land-use planning considerations," Mr Woods said.
