For the first time, Australia’s critically endangered Plains-wanderer has been both seen and heard on a pastoral station in western Queensland, an exciting discovery that confirms the species is surviving in an area where it had never been recorded before.
Once widespread across the grasslands of eastern Australia, the Plains-wanderer has greatly declined due to predation by feral cats and foxes, altered fire regimes and habitat loss. With an estimated 250-1,000 individuals remaining, the bird is now rarer than the Giant Panda (1,800) and the Black Rhino (5,500).
Despite its rarity, the gentle calls of the bird were recorded on dozens of bioacoustics recorders deployed by Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) on a North Australian Pastoral Company’s (NAPCo) Station. Two ecologists also saw and photographed a handful of individuals while retrieving the recorders from the station.
“Encountering the Plains-wanderer on that night felt like finding a needle in a haystack,” said Jamie Hackeson, who was one of the AWC staff members to see the species in person. “Being one of the first to see it and knowing what it meant for conservation made it an amazing experience.”
Listen to the call of the Plains-wanderer recorded on the NAPCo station:
Although the Plains-wanderer had never been recorded on the station before, distribution models suggested the habitat was suitable, and ecologists suspected a small population might be present after an individual was detected in the nearby Astrebla Downs National Park in 2022.
“This discovery is incredibly significant for the species,” said Tessa Manning, AWC Wildlife Ecologist. “Every confirmed record helps us understand where Plains-wanderers are surviving and how we can better protect them.”
The 60 acoustic recorders deployed picked up over 30,000 short snippets of environmental sounds, which were submitted to Open Ecoacoustics, an ARDC-supported platform for monitoring wildlife through sound, for analysis with an AI-powered ‘call recogniser’ they developed to identify likely Plains-wanderer vocalisations. A subset of these recordings was then vetted by Tessa to confirm Plains-wanderer presence at 33 sites, 16 of which had more than 10 Plains-wanderer calls each.
“These recordings, together with the sightings, provide concrete evidence that the species is present on the station,” said Tessa.
Open Ecoacoustics is a powerful accelerator for conservation research, according to Tessa. “Without having the call recogniser and without having the technology behind that, we wouldn’t put out as many acoustic recorders because it’s so time-consuming and difficult to classify these recordings. It would just take hours and hours to sit and go through it,” she explained
Open Ecoacoustics is a platform designed to ensure acoustic monitoring data is easily processed, interoperable and reusable to maximise its impact, delivering data that informs environmental management actions for over 30 partners across government, industry and the private sector. Supported by co-investment from the ARDC’s Planet Research Data Commons and part of the ARDC’s Machine Observation Data Processing Infrastructure, the platform provides data storage, access to acoustic data, technologies, methods and standards. The research infrastructure helps researchers monitor and support Australia’s ecosystems, contributing to threatened species recovery, climate adaptation, land management and environmental reporting on a continental scale.
Hamish Holewa, Director of the ARDC’s Planet Research Data Commons, said, “We’re proud to partner with Open Ecoacoustics to grow environmental acoustic monitoring to an unprecedented spatial and temporal scale. It’s being used by academics, research students, NGOs, government scientists and citizen scientists to inform evidence-based decisions on how to manage our environment so threatened species like the Plains-Wanderer can recover and thrive.”
The acoustic data gathered and analysed through this project will have long-term benefits for conservation. The data about the Plains-wanderer presence at the NAPCo station, along with the associated habitat data, is being shared with a PhD student at Adelaide University. This information is being used to develop a new, updated species distribution model for the Plains-wanderer, a key item outlined in the national recovery plan.
Tessa explains that the updated model is vital for evidence-based protection of the Plains-wanderer and a key item discussed in the Plains-wanderer National Recovery Plan. “The updated species distribution model will really help us to understand a lot more about where the Plains-wanderer is, what habitats it can occupy, and then what habitats we need to protect,” said Tessa.
Furthermore, the increased acoustic monitoring is already revealing previously unknown locations. Tessa noted, “Because there is more attention on the species, they are popping up in areas that we didn’t know before. The same week that we put out our press release about the NAPCo, they were heard on acoustic recorders in the north of South Australia, which is just not quite where they had been expected to be heard,” said Tessa.
The discovery also highlights the importance of partnerships like the one between AWC and NAPCo, demonstrating how cross-industry collaboration can expand the reach and impact of conservation across Australia.
Allan Cooney, NAPCo Chief Executive Officer welcomed the find, saying it was significant to confirm the rare species is not just passing through, but living and breathing on the station.
“To know such a rare and remarkable species is established on one of our properties is a real privilege and responsibility for us as land managers,” Mr Cooney said. “Through our partnership with AWC, we’re able to manage the land in a way that supports both pastoral production and meaningful conservation outcomes, and this discovery demonstrates what can be achieved when industry and science work together with shared purpose.”
“Working with NAPCo allows us to deliver conservation at a scale that simply isn’t possible without strong partnerships across Australia’s pastoral landscapes,” added Tessa. “With more than 50% of the Australian continent used for pastoralism, working with NAPCo is incredibly important to demonstrate how partnerships like ours can be used to deliver conservation at a vast scale,” added Tessa.
AWC also used acoustic recorders across their Top End sanctuaries in 2025 to survey for microbats, and hopes to continue utilising this non-invasive survey method in future.
Learn more about Open Ecoacoustics.
World Ecoacoustics Congress: Abstracts are open for the World Ecoacoustics Congress 2026 in Cairns, to be held 17 to 20 August. Tessa has joined Philip Eichinski from the Open Ecoacoustics team to submit an abstract for a presentation on the Plains-wanderer and their collaboration using the call-recogniser software. Submit your abstract by 16 April 2026 and join them at the conference.
Open Ecoacoustics is a co-investment partnership with the Australian Research Data Commons through the Planet Research Data Commons (DOI: 10.3565/ts8c-ee10). The ARDC is enabled by the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).
The Australian Wildlife Conservancy’s bioacoustic and motion sensor camera research is funded by the Queensland Government’s Threatened Species Research Grants. Learn more information on AWC and NAPCo’s partnership.
This case study is based on a media release from the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, with additions written by Jo Savill, ARDC. The case study was reviewed by Prof Paul Roe (JCU), Jo Morris (ARDC), Dr Rob Clemens (ARDC), Hamish Holewa (ARDC), Bek Diete (AWC) and Tessa Manning (AWC).
