Red-Tailed Phascogale found in Corrigin!

Staff at the Wheatbelt NRM office were somewhat surprised this week when Lynette, a landholder from Bullaring, rang to find out what to do with a Red-tailed Phascogale she had found at her house!

Unfortunately it was deceased, but it is still a great find, showing that this charasmatic native critter is still around the Corrigin/Bullaring area.

Red-tailed Phascogale (Phascogale calura) found near Corrigin

Lynette had seen them before at her property in Bullaring, but this time she decided to speak with Wheatbelt NRM’s Regional Landcare Facilitator Mick Davis, who encouraged Lynette to send in the above photo and then contacted the WA Museum for more information. 

Red-tailed Phascogales (also called Red-tailed Wambengers) are a threatened species of native Australian mammal, only occurring in Western Australia but now restricted to around the Great Southern region.

They prefer woodland habitat with dense pockets of sheoak thickets surrounding old white gum trees to use as nesting sites. However they also occur in mallee scrub and will use letterboxes and hous roof cavities as alternative nesting sites.

Distribution map for the Red-Tailed Phascogale.  Dark blue shows current distribution, orange previous distribution and light blue and black indicates fossil records

WA Museum Techincal Officer of Terrestrial Zoology (Vertebrates) Claire Stevenson was very excited by Lynette’s find.

“We haven’t had a Red-tailed Phascogale specimen at the Museum since 2007” she said, explaining that this record in near the edge of this species’ known range. Upon closer inspection of local data it was found that this species was right on the edge of it's know distribution.

The (frozen) specimen will now be sent to the WA Museum – where it will be properly preserved and added to the states collection, adding to the wider communities' knowledge and understanding of this unique species.

If you have seen these critters near you place or in your travels, let Wheatbelt NRM know by calling 089 670 3110 or emailing info@wheatbeltnrm.org.au

For more information on recovery actions for the Red-tailed Phascogale see the draft recovery plan on Wheatbelt NRM’s webpage.

BioBlitz leads to new web resource

The buzz is the 2012 Korrelocking BioBlitz was a great success!

Korrelocking BioBlitz Volunteers

Thanks to all the keen people who came along to join in this year, the Team Leaders who bravely led their groups into the wilds of Korrelocking and of course Phil and Sharon who put up with all the unusual comotion on their property!

For details on the current findings from the BioBlitz see the following media release or listen to the ABC radio interview here.

Little Eagle. Photo by Alan Throne

After a great weekend of adventure, social media updates, discovery and hopefully fun for all, the hard graft of getting together the BioBlitz report has begun.

The species lists are growing and the need for management of several issues within the reserve is growing apparent.

Flora Team. Photo by Vicki Warburton

Wheatbelt NRM has already recieved three requests for assistance from groups wishing to organise their own BioBlitz in 2013!

In response to these requests we created a new web-resource and tool kit, to assist any keen BioBlitz organisers out there.


There are some great tips for BioBlitz organisers on the new page, including some key questions, tips for finding leaders, tools to help find outmore about your area and some useful links to other resources.

Looking foward to the next BioBlitz

If you are keen to find out more, or get involved in biodiversity projects in and around the wheatbelt, contact Wheatbelt NRM on 9670 3100, info@wheatbetltnrm.org.au or www.wheatbeltnrm.org.au to find out more.