WILD Blog 04

Trail Cams

What is a trail cam? Also known as camera traps, game cameras or wildlife cameras, these devices are cameras that are automatically triggered by movement, kind of like an outside light. They can be set to record video, photo or timelapses. They usually utilise night vision and are housed in small weatherproof boxes that can be attached to trees or tripods, running on batteries but able to observe for several months at a time.

Our trail cams are the best wildlife observing version of ourselves- silent, camouflaged, waterproof, quiet, not smelly, not bothered about sleep, as far as wildlife are concerned- they’re part of the forest furniture.

This brings many benefits to the footage they capture, the main one being that animals behave in a much more natural way when there isn’t a strange being near by. Over the years we’ve captured a Tasmanian devil cleaning it’s face with it’s licked paws, pademelons having a smooch at the bottom of our garden, possums riding their mother’s backs backwards and so many more behaviours that simply wouldn’t have happened with us being in their space. These devices don’t only allow us to enjoy hours of wonderful footage, they help us to monitor as well. As we sit at home or sleep, our cameras are being continuously triggered by Tasmania’s nocturnal wildlife- one after the other, night after night, for up to three months at a time. This gives us vast records of information on what animals are passing through areas and when. They also tell us what animals aren’t in the area, and what animals have been introduced to an area- most predominantly feral cats in Tasmania, as well as foxes on the mainland- both often elusive when searching in person. All of these observations can be turned into data which can then be utilised to inform science- the benefits of which can be endless.

Though Kaylee had previously used them in her field research, it wasn’t until we moved to Tasmania that we got our own. We believed this was a better idea than us waiting in our car till the early hours of the morning (though that’s still fun to do occasionally) and have since never looked back.

I picked up our first trail cam from Anaconda for around $90 at the time. At this point it’s not the highest quality cam we have- but it absolutely did it’s job and gave us hours of information, learning and entertainment (I will never tire of watching possums do absolutely anything). We soon got a second one to allow us to broaden our captures. Nowadays we generally use our GardePro E8 and GardePro A60. These are closer to the $200+ range and it shows through their hardware and software. We haven’t had them for long but are absolutely thrilled with the image quality, and, which we have found to be really important- the sound recording quality as well. When looking for quality markers in your own trail cams, look out for video and photo quality (ie. 4K video and 64mp photos), how many PIR sensors they have (3 is a good number), weatherproof ratings such as IP68 waterproof, and their trigger response time- the quicker the better (our A60 is rated at 0.1 seconds) which means you’re less likely to miss that critter zooming by.

If you don’t have a trail cam- you still have an excellent chance at spotting wildlife in person, and in most cases it’s a more rewarding experience. You just need to be quiet, careful, patient, respectful and, of course, lucky. Otherwise you could also book a spot on our Night Walk Adventure!

Whether you get a trail cam for fun, curiosity or to contribute to citizen science, there’s no doubt that these devices make an excellent, accessible and rewarding hobby to compliment your in-person adventures.

Here’s some footage from our old Anaconda trail cam of a common brushtail possum mum and joey wondering through our garden.

Have fun!

Josh Selby, 26/02/2026

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/fa2469_f17f8730a99d426d803aa3ed325c8160/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

WILD Blog 03

Is That Summer Outside?

I’ve recently been reading a book called Incredible Journeys by David Barrie. I’ve also noticed that since September this year, I feel like I can count the sunny days of Strahan on one hand!

This is an exaggeration, of course. I actually believe I could count the sunny days on two hands. We are pushing on as always, however, and are so excited by our keen guests and friends who come out on our tours whatever the weather. It is, after all, why the tour has ‘adventure’ in the name!

Now that the unusually wet weather is easing off, and things are starting to change, I’ve found myself asking a question- how does the local wildlife follow the seasons?

Well first of all, we have to accept that they don’t. Not in our sense of the word anyway. Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter don’t mean anything to Tasmanian animals. Their perception of the seasons doesn’t come from flipping a calendar, it comes from change. Primarily;

-Change in the environment around them (weather, day length, polarisation)

-Change in food sources (flowers, new leaf growth, wildlife migration)

-Internal change such as hormones and circadian rhythms (which can be dictated by the above two points).

If you’d like to flash around a fancy word, try ‘photoperiod’. It’s a fancy way of saying day length, and sounds a lot cooler. Marsupials recognise this part of life and, so do you. Changes in photoperiod can trigger bodily responses such as hormone change (think shedding fur or growing a thicker coat) and can encourage an animal to seek new lands or food sources though migration. It’s also the reason why adding our tours to the calendar six months in advance is an extremely calculated and long process- as we time every tour with the changing sunsets!

As the cold weather continues, so does an animal’s rest period. Have you ever wanted to sleep in on a cold, dark morning? Of course you have! Unfortunately for us humans our parents call that laziness. Marsupials do the same thing, but they get away with it by calling it ‘torpidity’. It’s a survival strategy when resources are poor. So next time you sleep in, don’t be so hard on yourself and remember your pygmy possum cousins.

And then there’s the rain. Ongoing rain may prevent a possum species from becoming active, as it dulls flowering on plants such as banksias. On the other hand, it may encourage another species and boost population survival (WILD Blog 02 mentions frogs). This is just scratching the surface- wet ground makes roots easier to access, or harder, depending on the plant, burrows may strengthen or collapse in hot weather, insects may pop out of the ground- if you can imagine it, it probably happens. It gets even cooler though…. Ever heard of infrasound? My Grandma always used to say if you see the cows lying down it means rain is coming. I’ve never really tested that hypothesis but it has some truth to it- certain animals can sense weather events before we have any idea they’re about to happen. Bird migration, an elephant seeking shelter, a whale navigating the open ocean, these can be aided by infrasound – sound not detected by human ears, caused by vibrations, distant storms, volcanoes and even human made machines. Though not usually relating to long term seasonal change, it’s an example of weather and natural events dictating the daily decisions of wildlife.

So, here we are wondering where spring went. Has it started, did it happen, will it happen, or are we now in summer? During an era of unpredictability and climate change, maybe it’s time we stopped looking at the calendar for help.

Next time you’re in the garden or out on a walk, take note of the flowers, the smells, the birds that are around. Are the possums in that tree in your garden again? Is that blackwood dropping it’s leaves, have the tea trees got that wonderful shine to them? I mean, literally take note, write it down and then next year see if it’s the same. The more you observe the more you might notice, nature tends to know exactly what it’s doing and it may be best to trust it over your calendar (even if it has pretty pictures and fills a great space on your kitchen wall).

What I’m saying is, if it’s mid spring Saturday and it just hailed outside, channel your inner pygmy possum and have a lie in.    Here's a photo of a cute pademelon.

Josh Selby, 16/12/2025

WILD Blog 02

A New Season Our first season of the Night Walk Adventure saw people from all over the world experience the wonders of the Ocean Beach Conservation area with Whitmore’s Wild. That’s a fair chunk of people who gained valuable knowledge and experience to take with them on the rest of their travels around Tasmania and beyond.

One of our favourite outcomes from a tour is when guests contact us later on in their adventures. They might say they managed to identify a bettong bouncing by their caravan at St Helens, or how they noticed some Tasmanian devil poo on the trail near their house up North, or just that they had so much fun for the rest of their holiday having a few minutes before bed seeing what was in the field by their hut.

As always, the animals in the Conservation Area are wild and free to roam and pass by us as they please. We can never guarantee wildlife sightings, but what we can guarantee is that it’s just as exciting to become equipped with the skills to sight wildlife wherever you go, and to learn these skills whilst in the natural environment of those incredibly unique animals.

It is very rare to see a wild Tasmanian Devil whilst out on foot, but to be in a place special enough to show signs of their habitat, to know they are out there in the darkness, to pass through their land respectfully knowing that they are thriving all around us on the trail- that never fails to give us goosebumps.

As we continue into our second season, we’re more excited than ever to share this special part of the world. We’re excited that our guests are braving the west coast weather, and we’re all embracing it to see how the wildlife behaves differently.

As of November, it’s been a particularly rainy spring! But what does this mean for the fauna of Strahan? Well, one example on the nightwalk is that we can note more success in frog species survival- puddles that have usually dried up by now are thriving with hundreds of tadpoles of various species, and we can also note an entirely new marsh that we hadn’t seen near the trail for the previous years - which after surveying we have found to be home to a whopping six species of frogs, based on their calls. Have a listen to their concert below!

Just to name a few other sightings; we saw our first wandering trapdoor spider of the season this week, recently caught a glimpse of the first ever spotted tail quoll seen on tour, have witnessed the shearwaters returning to their burrows, and have had amazing views of microbats feasting on the moths that are out above the path.

As we continue into December, what’s next as the rain passes, the sun comes out and the daylight lingers even longer?

As always, it’s up to the wild to decide that. We’re just here for the show.

Josh Selby, 27/11/2025

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/fa2469_57be51759bb6499eaee01dc68257c788/1080p/mp4/file.mp4