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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/12/plains-wanderers-spotted-in-melbournes-west-for-first-time-in-30-years-with-help-of-ai>
"Critically endangered plains-wanderers have been found living in Melbourne’s
west for the first time in more than 30 years.
Notoriously elusive and difficult to spot, the rare birds were detected on two
pockets of remnant grassland by Zoos Victoria, with the help of AI.
The zoo installed 35 audio recorders, called song meters, across nine
properties with suitable habitat. After collecting tens of thousands of hours
of recordings, they used AI to sift through the data. They identified the
birds’ distinctively soft and low “ooming” call at two sites, with human
experts confirming the discovery.
Zoos Victoria’s threatened species program coordinator, Chris Hartnett, said
the result was “like finding gold”. The organisation would work with landowners
and managers to protect the birds, she said.
Once abundant across south-eastern Australia, plains-wanderer populations have
radically declined due to the loss of their grassland habitat and now number
between 250 and 1,000 wild birds.
Hartnett admired the birds’ resilience, given that less than 1% of their
grassland habitat remained in Victoria. “They’ve held on, even though the
landscape has changed pretty drastically.”
Standing about 15cm tall, or roughly the size of a pencil, with wide, yellow
eyes, some describe the plains-wanderer as looking like a “cartoon version of a
bird”.
“They’re very endearing and quite eccentric,” Hartnett said. For example, she
said, when courting, the females formed “a shape with her wings like a jet
plane and chased the males around”."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
