This year Malleefowl in the Northern Agricultural Region have provided a wonderful opportunity for collaboration across regional organisations.
Every year in the hottest month’s citizen scientists and monitoring coordinators head out bush to check in on our favourite Megapodes! This year NACC NRM, Western Mulga, Australian Wildlife Conservancy, Bush Heritage Australia Rangelands NRM and Badimia Bandi Barna Aboriginal Corporation teamed up to complete annual monitoring programs On Badimia Barna (Country).
The incredible partnerships between these stakeholders has enabled Badimia Elders with a fabulous opportunity to engage with a younger generation of Aboriginal Rangers on Country. They have been able to share their traditional cultural knowledge and experiences while achieving important conservation work.
Monitoring Malleefowl mounds is not for the faint of heart. Malleefowl prefer to build their enormous incubating mounds in thick mallee scrub, they also start laying eggs into the mound in the heat of late spring into summer.
Passionate Malleefowl monitoring teams have to contend with high temperatures, walking long distances through the dense Mallee and with the occasional tick-hiker along for the ride. This is all worth it though when our teams come across an active mound or even a Malleefowl actively tending their mound. This year one if the Western Mulga Ranger teams were lucky to encounter a Malleefowl tending to his mound at AWC’s Mt Gibson sanctuary, unfazed he kept working diligently even allowing the boys to take a quick selfie with him.
This project is supported by NACC NRM through funding from the Australian Governments National Landcare Program.
