All are welcome to join in on Friday, November 16, for the season’s first monthly count of the population of grey-headed flying-foxes residing in the seasonal breeding colony.

Volunteers will gather from 7.15pm at the shelter shed on the southern side of the lagoon (off Rose St) before spreading out to one of 12 counting stations to record the numbers of flying-foxes heading out at dusk to forage for food in the native forests in surrounding areas. 

The community-based citizen science project is part of the National Flying-Fox Monitoring Program, managed by the CSIRO, which makes quarterly reports based on data about the abundance and distribution of flying-foxes.

Once each month the volunteers gather to record the current population numbers in the flying-fox camp and the direction of departure as the flying-foxes leave the lagoon on the nightly foraging flight.

The project has created a valuable data set showing patterns and variations in the numbers and duration of the seasonal camp. 

Experienced volunteers have been counting flying-foxes once each month for the past six years. New volunteers are most welcome to join in and learn how to accurately count flying-foxes using a method where pairs of volunteers count the flying-foxes leaving in a section of sky.

If you have any queries, contact coordinator Hugh Pitty, on 0414 525 761.