How do we help protect the only bird in Victoria that is naturally found nowhere else – the Mallee-emu wren?
By finding out where it lives and other places that might be suitable for it.
We know small populations of the wrens are found in Hattah-Kulkyne, Murray-Sunset and Wyperfeld national parks in the Mallee. They may also be in other parks and reserves.
One way to help them is by mapping the best spiky Triodia spinifex grass for them to call home.
The tiny, endangered Mallee-emu wren, measuring up to only 15cm when fully grown, loves nothing more than living in the fattest spikiest hummock beds of spinifex grass. This helps protect them from summer heat, winter frost and predators.
But is also make it very hard to find them – unless you love being spiked with vicious prickles!
Enter technology – geospatial mapping to be exact.
We used special 3D aerial photos taken at a high spatial resolution by DEECA to find places with large amounts of high-quality Triodia spinifex in the nearby little-known Annuello Flora and Fauna Reserve.
The images are in a special 3D format that allowed us to see details on a specialist computer monitor that wouldn't be visible in a normal image. From these images we can identify and measure 'fat' hummock beds on the ground.
This helps us not only know where to look for the Mallee-emu wren so we can monitor potential populations but also identify places where we could move the birds to. Moving – or translocating in technical speak - birds from one area to other suitable places helps protect them against fire and predators that can wipe out populations in small areas.
Annuello Flora and Fauna Reserve in the Mallee is a perfect place to find this spinifex and the right conditions for the Mallee-emu wren. Although there have been anecdotal sightings in the reserve, none have formally been recorded there for decades.
Surveying on ground is difficult – not just because of the spiky spinifex, but also because there is limited access in the reserve. The same size as Mount Buffalo, but with only about a dozen tracks, Annuello is a remote part of the state.
Which is why technology is our friend to get the job done.
Parks Victoria is working with others, including Zoos Victoria, to identify ways to better protect endangered species.
Mallee-emu wrens from Hattah-Kulkyne National Park have been relocated in recent years to Monarto Zoo in South Australia. Last year, 17 were successfully released into a suitable South Australian reserve.
Stay tuned to find out if we discover Mallee-emu wrens in Annuello, or if it is identified as a suitable place to release new populations of birds into.
