Wildlife Camera Trapping around Brisbane

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Posted 2022-12-19 by Roz Glazebrook ⇒ follow

Do you know what is going on while you are sleeping or away from home? Years ago, we suspected wild dogs were visiting our property in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland when we weren't there. We were worried they could have been killing koalas and other native wildlife. We had heard stories of packs of wild dogs killing stock and poultry on neighbouring farms. There were stories of them ripping newborn lambs from their mother as soon as they were born.

A local Sunshine Coast council officer loaned us a camera with new spy technology. He tied it to a tree overlooking our large dam and left it there. At the time, we lived and worked in Brisbane, so it was about six weeks before we got back to retrieve it. We had owned the 15-hectare property for over 30 years and had no idea what was going on while we were not there.

Our suspicions were confirmed. We caught several photos of wild dogs crossing the dam wall. We didn't expect to see the bright eye shine and straight ears of a fox. We had heard there were foxes in the area but never thought they would be on our land.

We also saw some red necked wallabies by the dam early in the early morning and our agisted horses swimming in the dam eating water lilies! We had roped off the large dam to stop the horses polluting it. They had 3 other dams to drink from but we found they outsmarted us and went around the side of the rope and got into the water. One mare loved to go swimming and eat water lilies.

We observed some interesting photos of the horses interacting with each other and with some cattle egrets. The egrets' heads had changed colour from white to fawn which occurs during their breeding season.

Queensland farmers on large properties are buying these high-tech spy cameras to catch thieves who steal and kill their cattle. A trial around Dalby, Warwick, Toowoomba and Charleville regions caught 62 people on 140 charges, including a man who stole and butchered cattle for pet mince.

The cameras are battery or solar powered and can operate in all weather taking up to around 5000 photos at a time. They can be easily camouflaged in trees, logs or rocks. They also record the temperature, date and time the photo is taken.

A few years later, my son bought me a wildlife camera for mother's day. I take it on base camps for a few days when I go on bushwalking or kayaking trips. I put it up in the bush. It is one of the best presents I have ever had. I've had so much fun, downloading the photos after I get home to see what I have captured. I've taken it to Moreton Island, Binna Burra, Goomburra campsite on Main Range National Park, Mt Glorious, Lake Moogerah, Samford Scout camp and many other places.

I've caught foxes and brush tailed possums at Samford on the camera, inquisitive brush turkeys at Binna Burra, snakes, rats and birds. I got excited when camping at Lake Moogerah once when I saw a phascogalebriefly on a picnic table while we were having dinner. I put the wildlife camera up, but unfortunately that night it didn't work because the batteries were flat. My camera takes 8 double 4A batteries. I will have to go back there again one day.
I put it up in my backyard and found out I have ring tailed possums as well as brush tailed ones. I knew about the brush tailed ones as they stomp across the roof at night, but I didn't know about the ring tailed ones.

During a very hot summer period, I put water out and the camera picked up possums and a brush turkey coming for a drink, so it is a good idea to leave some water out for animals. I also picked up a rat and possum coming for a drink in a shallow dish of water I leave near the dog's bowl on my deck which the butcher birds come for a drink. I'm not worried about the rats because I have a large python living in my yard who keeps them under control.

I read about an outdoor camera shop in Toowoomba that is selling around 60 hidden camera kits a week to farmers and government bodies. Some farmers with large properties buy up to 8 cameras and set them up around their land. Thieves are being deterred from going onto properties with cameras because they don't know where they are. The cameras have also caught people cutting fences and riding around private property on motorbikes.

Governments are using them to catch people illegally stealing wildlife and the cameras are filming pest species. So if you want to find out what happens when you are not around, get a spy camera. You might get surprised like I did. I have seen them at Aldi as cheap as $99 on special. There are much more expensive ones, but the Aldi one like mine is still very good.

I am on some camera trap sites overseas and have seen photos of many wild animals caught on the cameras including bears, cougars, leopards, tigers and many other animals. I read a Sumatran tiger destroyed three cameras in one night.

So if you want to find out what is happening around your house or yard while you are sleeping, or on your next bush camping trip, get yourself a wildlife trap camera. The one I have captures the photos on an SD card which I then download onto my computer after I get home and wait excitedly to see what I have caught. Sometimes, it is disappointing and I don't have anything, but other times it can be very exciting. I used it last weekend at a camp in Samford. Something triggered it because I had photos, but couldn't see anything so it may have just been the wind.