The efficacy of nestboxes versus spotlighting for detecting feathertail gliders

In: Wildlife research, Volume 27, Issue 1, p. 75

Abstract

A series of spotlight transects were carried out over a two-year period within
a 7-ha area of the Wombat State Forest, Victoria, which contained nestboxes
used by feathertail gliders, Acrobates pygmaeus.
Spotlighting was carried out on foot through open forest, not along tracks,
and only one feathertail glider was detected in 13.8 h of spotlighting. The
nestboxes were checked on days following spotlighting surveys and 72 captures
of feathertail gliders were made over the same two- year period. Spotlighting
can provide important information on the biology of feathertail gliders when
used in long-term scientific studies by experienced spotlighters. However, it
is an unsatisfactory technique for broad surveys of feathertail gliders, and
nestboxes provide a better technique but require a longer time-frame and
additional cost.