2024 Grasswren Surveys

Call for volunteers 

BirdLife Northern Queensland will again be conducting surveys for Carpentarian and Kalkadoon Grasswrens in western Queensland.

This year’s surveys will be especially important as widespread wildfires swept through some of our grasswren populations on two properties to the northwest of Mount Isa, last October / November. However, preliminary mapping and on-ground checks indicate there are unburnt refuge areas. Are these sufficient to maintain and then restore the populations of both species? Our surveys may go some way to answering that very question.

Our plan is to start the surveys in the second week of May, meeting on afternoon of 7 May at a location just northwest of Mount Isa. We will run surveys for two weeks, with training day on 8 May, so finishing up around 22 May.

Participants need to be self-sufficient and able to camp supplying all their own food, water and fuel to spend 10–12 days in the bush, with no facilities provided. You will also need a vehicle capable of handling station tracks – 4WD and high clearance. We need to be mobile as we cover numerous sites on several properties.

You do not need to have any previous experience with grasswrens, as we supply training in the specific method we use for these surveys. However, you do need to enjoy birding and spending time out in some beautiful parts of western Queensland! We are able to reimburse participants’ fuel costs up to a limit of $1,000 per vehicle.

If you think you can join us for this important year of monitoring, to assess the impact of the fires on our known grasswren sites, then please contact Kath Shurcliff at crabplover@westnet.com.au or on 0478 641 987.

For those who are interested but without a suitable vehicle, let me know as we might have a spare seat or two in others’ vehicles.

Photo by L Skea.