State-wide Tasmanian Azure Kingfisher surveys using passive acoustic monitoring Charley Gros (Bob Brown Foundation), Janey Ogilvie (Bob Brown Foundation) and Mark Holdsworth (BirdLife Tasmania) The Azure Kingfisher glides above the river or falls from a...
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State-wide Tasmanian Azure Kingfisher surveys using passive acoustic monitoring Charley Gros (Bob Brown Foundation), Janey Ogilvie (Bob Brown Foundation) and Mark Holdsworth (BirdLife Tasmania) The Azure Kingfisher glides above the river or falls from a branch like a blue star and rises with a silver prize. Many dream of seeing it, but few are fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of this blue flame with wings. After more than two decades on the threatened-species list—and with anecdotal reports suggesting that sightings were declining in places where it was once common—it was time to try and do something to protect the Tasmanian Azure Kingfisher. In September 2025, we began attaching acoustic recorders to trees leaning over rivers where the azure kingfisher had previously been recorded. Recorders have a side-mounted microphone, with an SD card and batteries inside, capturing the surrounding soundscape for days. We hoped to answer some basic questions: “Are they still inhabiting these ri
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