Last year 19 camera traps were placed across the eastern side of Yourka Reserve. We were taking part in a Northern Bettong project with WWF (the World Wildlife Fund for Nature).
There have been rumours and whispers of Northern Bettongs (Bettonga tropica) occurring on Yourka in the past.
We set the cameras up throughout some promising looking habitat and even managed to find a bunch of diggings and some oorts (Bettong spit balls), so hopes were high that Northern Bettongs would show up on our cameras!
Unfortunately, none revealed themselves to us through the photos. However, we did capture many other species (28 in total), including 10 native mammals, 9 birds, one reptile and a few of the usual nasty ferals. It was very encouraging to see the number of brushtail possums, bandicoots and Rufus Bettongs.
The beauty of using remote cameras is that while we can't be in the field all the time, the cameras can.
Our remote camera traps are activated by movement. When an animal walks past the trap is triggered. A photograph is taken of the individual, with the time, date, temperature and moon phase recorded.
This information can be used to build a picture of what time the animal is most active and how many are in an area. All this information is gathered without any interference to the animals.
The bait canister you can see in the photos is filled with peanut butter, oats and truffle oil – irresistible to sniffing little noses!
Species recorded:
- Laughing Kookaburra
- Long-nosed Bandicoot
- Melomys spp.
- Northern Brown Bandicoot
- Giant White-tailed Rat
- Owlet Nightjar
- Peaceful Dove
- Pied Butcherbird
- Quail
- Dingo
- Bush Rat
- Rufous bettong
- Short-beaked Echidna
- Swamp Wallaby
- Unknown Bird
- Unknown Small Mammal
- Wild Dog
- Yellow-spotted Monitor
- Antechinus
- Australian magpie
- Brown Quail
- Common Brushtail Possum
- Crow
- Eastern Grey Kangaroo
- Feral cat
- Feral cow
- Feral pig
- Cane Toad
Many thanks to our fabulous volunteer Tom who helped to sort the photos for this project.
Brushtail possum. 
Possum with joey. 
Eastern Grey. 
Northern Brown Bandicoot. 
Long-nosed Bandicoot. 
Rufus Bettong. 
Alert Brushtail possum. 
Swamp wallaby. 
Two Rufus Bettongs - Mother and joey (click to zoom)