Investigating protecting night parrots from cats on the Ngururrpa IPAP
Night parrot captured on camera near one of the FelixersTM on the Ngururrpa IPA, September 2023.
The Ngururrpa Rangers manage the largest known population of the Endangered night parrot in Australia. Sites where night parrots occur are extremely remote and difficult to survey and manage, with many sites only accessible by helicopter. However the Ngururrpa Rangers have successfully combined their expert knowledge of country, habitats, food and water resources with technology such as satellite imagery, songmeters and cameras to reveal numerous night parrot sites across their Indigenous Protected Area (IPA), and monitor threats such as predators and fire around important habitat.
Our camera surveillance has revealed that dingoes are a constant presence around long-term night parrot roosting sites, whereas cats and foxes are only occasionally detected. Our predator scat analysis has shown that dingoes are an important ally in our quest to protect night parrots from cats, with 15% of dingo scats containing feral cat remains. For this reason the Ngururrpa Rangers prioritised using cat control methods that would not affect the dingo population. FelixersTM were the obvious choice for this purpose, because they have been trained to fire only on cats and foxes, and can provide continuous autonomous protection of small localized sites such as night parrot roosting sites. We were extremely fortunate to receive a Thylation Foundation Felixer grant (sponsored by the Invasive Species Council) to lease two FelixersTM for 2 years to trial their potential to reduce predation pressure around night parrot roosting sites.
Ngururrpa Rangers at the location of one of the FelixersTM during the 2023 trial.
FelixerTM locations after the wildfire: in burnt habitat beside a waterhole.
And in an unburnt patch within the firescar.
Two FelixersTM were piloted at night parrot roosting sites in 2023. This involved an initial 6-week trial in photo-only mode in June-July prior to obtaining the 1080 permits, and then an 8-week deployment from September to November. No cats walked past the FelixersTM during the photo trial and only 1 cat walked past the FelixersTM in the spring deployment, but this is not surprising given our camera surveillance in the broader area of habitat around each FelixerTM showed that cat and fox presence was extremely rare (0.5 and 0.1 detections per 100 trap nights respectively). There were 19 dingo visitations to the FelixersTM in 2023, and all were correctly identified as non-targets.
In December 2023, a lightning-ignited wildfire reduced the area of mature roosting habitat at one of our core night parrot sites by 76%, leaving only scattered fragments of unburnt lanu lanu spinifex within the fire scar. In February 2024 the Ngururrpa Rangers trialled the use of two FelixersTM in this area, one beside a waterhole within the burnt habitat and the other inside a small remnant patch of unburnt spinifex. Unfortunately the Rangers did not have access the poison for the FelixersTM at this time and set the FelixersTM in photo-mode, planning to return the following month with the poison. Frustratingly, monsoonal rain then closed the road for 2 months, and the poison was not added until May. However the three month photo trial showed considerably more predator action at the FelixersTM than in 2023, especially at the machine in the remnant patch of unburnt spinifex. Both cats and foxes were identified as targets and should have been killed if the machine was in toxic mode. It should be noted that we also conducted three nights of spotlight shooting in the firescar in February, but did not see a single cat or fox, suggesting that this method would not be an efficient control method with the low predator densities.
Results from our camera traps and songmeters in burnt and unburnt sites pre- and post-wildfire are not yet available but our preliminary data from the FelixersTM suggest that they will be a critically important management tool to protect threatened species after wildfire. The low densities of cats and foxes that normally prevail in this area mean encounters with FelixersTM are rare. However, when prey species are forced to congregate at high densities within remnant unburnt patches, post-wildfire predator activity will inevitably focus on these prey hotspots. Using FelixersTM to provide autonomous ongoing predator control should have a major impact on the capacity for vulnerable fauna to persist after fire, enabling future recolonization of habitat when it regenerates
Ngururrpa Rangers with a FelixerTM set up next to a waterhole in a fresh firescar, February 2024.
This cat was identified as a target on 2nd April 2024. There were two previous cat passes on 16th and 19th February, and one subsequent cat on 12th April that were not identified as targets. We appreciate the new updated firmware is more likely to correctly identify cats as targets.
This fox was identified as a target on 19th May 2024. It was the only fox that has walked past a FelixerTM at Ngururrpa so far. No dingoes were recorded walking past the FelixerTM set in the unburnt patch of spinifex during the 3-month trial February-May 2024.
The second FelixerTM was set up next to a waterhole. Dingoes and camels walked past the FelixerTM every day and none were identified as targets. It is impressive that the FelixersTM can distinguish fox from dingo successfully. Only 1 cat was recorded on this FelixerTM.
Report produced by Rachel Paltridge (Indigenous Desert Alliance) and Luke Parker (Desert Support Services) on behalf of the Ngururrpa Rangers. We appreciate support from the Thylation Foundation and Invasive Species Council for lease of the FelixersTM, NESP Resilient Landscapes Hub for funding the predator and night parrot monitoring, and the Western Australian Aboriginal Ranger Program for supporting the Ngururrpa Rangers.
4th June 2024
The Lungtalanana Cultural Restoration Project
Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation Thylation Foundation Grant Project
Securing a future for Western Ground Parrot, Kyloring
Thylation Partnership with Arid Recovery
Photo: Ben Parkhurst
What We Do
We use creativity to provide technology and tools to save threatened wildlife.
02
Photo: Ben Parkhurst
Why We Do It
The need to think outside the square to achieve conservation outcomes for Australian wildlife is real.
03
Photo: Ben Parkhurst
What we've done
Our tools are used to aid and monitor the reintroduction of culturally important and threatened mammal species.
04
Projects
Featured case studies
Dynamic Corp
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellusleo.
ACME Industries
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellusleo.
Vehement Capital
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellusleo.