HP Waudby
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hpwaudby.bsky.social
HP Waudby
@hpwaudby.bsky.social
Dr Helen P Waudby. Conservation biologist working with threatened species in southern NSW. Northern Territorian. Natural history; fieldwork; wildlife; wildflower photography.
Nice chorus of Endangered Sloane’s froglets (and a few other species) at CSU’s David Mitchell wetlands yesterday afternoon. The Thurgoona campus is a hotspot for them #wildoz #threatenedspecies #wetlands @gulbali-institute.bsky.social
August 4, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Reposted by HP Waudby
In2016, conservation biologist @jodirowley.bsky.social embarked on a mission into some of the most rugged terrain in Australia, the Northern Tablelands of NSW, to find a tiny rare frog, which hadn’t been seen in over 40 years.

But what she found was unexpected:
cosmosmagazine.com/magazine/fin...
July 28, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Reposted by HP Waudby
Jodi's adventure of rediscovery is one of many precarious, hilarious and thought-provoking stories from the front line of ecology fieldwork included in our book, Wild Science, edited by @hpwaudby.bsky.social.

Find it in bookshops or online:
www.publish.csiro.au/book/8128/
July 28, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Amazing image of one of Australia’s unique and Critically Endangered bird species. So good to see them breeding! This kind of sighting would be a once in a lifetime experience for many people. David has been working on the species for over 20 years now.
Taken during the last week of autumn - a male plains-wanderer keeps his 4 offspring close.

Within a week, two at most, these 4 would be independent of dad and wandering off into the yonder to find their own patch, hopefully surrounded by potential partners.
July 16, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Ever had that feeling of being watched..? Reminded when I looked up from frog surveys to find I was the one being surveyed. By a southern bell frog. Creep.
July 16, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Wonderful discovery by one of my colleagues. Really demonstrates the critical importance of repeated surveys in threatened species conservation and planning.
The Leadbeater’s possum has just been detected in Kosciusko National Park. This extraordinary discovery is the first live record of this Critically Endangered species outside of Victoria. See what the experts have to say about the discovery:
biodiversitycouncil....
May 31, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Massive rainbow after a storm at Nanya Station in south west NSW. Couldn’t help but smile.
March 23, 2025 at 12:12 AM
Some solid rainfall in NSW’s south west mallee last week. Enough to encourage burrowing frogs to make their way to the surface. Lots of these little Sudell’s frogs out looking for a mate #wildoz #frogs #desertrain #Neobatrachus
March 23, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Reposted by HP Waudby
Hot off the press! One of former PhD student and now Dr Ange Pestell's thesis chapters esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Continued cross-disciplinary collaboration is needed to ensure large environmental datasets are available to train & test machine learning algorithms.
Smart camera traps and computer vision improve detections of small fauna
Limited data on species' distributions are common for small animals, impeding conservation and management. Small animals, especially ectothermic taxa, are often difficult to detect, and therefore req....
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
March 17, 2025 at 5:24 AM
Reposted by HP Waudby
End salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour now.

As hundreds of thousands of salmon are dying, the PM is throwing public money at the polluting, tax-avoiding foreign corporations, putting them over Australia's people and wildlife.

It has to stop.

Add your name: theaus.in/save_the_skate
February 27, 2025 at 1:27 AM
It’s been a quiet week of fauna monitoring in far south west NSW. This young knob-tailed gecko (Nephrurus levis) was a highlight. Adults can get up to ~10 cm. This one was around 5. Those eyes… #WildOz
February 26, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Pie-dish beetles (Helea spp.) are so cool. They use their exaggerated flanges a bit like a shield to fend off predators. We see lots of them in the mallee #Coleoptera #WildOz
February 26, 2025 at 8:13 AM
The mallee of south west NSW is a magic place at twilight. Heat still radiating off the sand. Birds winding down for the day.
February 25, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Common brown butterfly (Heteronympha merope) on this morning’s walk. Fluttering its last as it lay on the path. Typically lots around Albury at this time of year.
December 29, 2024 at 1:46 AM
Reposted by HP Waudby
Get ready for goosebumps, this is my FAVOURITE moment from the 2024 @marinemammalogy.bsky.social conference held in Perth, Western Australia.

#whale
December 18, 2024 at 8:27 AM
Reposted by HP Waudby
Christmas Bells right on cue in Royal National Park . . .
December 16, 2024 at 9:26 AM
Reposted by HP Waudby
This beautiful, tiny cuckoo wasp (~8mm) has been loitering around my insect hotel, waiting for a suitable wasp to lay an egg. Once laid, she will then lay hers, which will hatch first and eat all the food left for the other wasp.

#wasps #insects #nature #backyardbiodiversity #kleptoparasitism
December 15, 2024 at 8:03 AM
Reposted by HP Waudby
And this cracker by Helen Waudby @euanritchie.bsky.social @manusaunders.bsky.social et al.
December 14, 2024 at 6:30 AM
Tiny wildflowers still waving their heads above the drying grasslands of the NSW Riverina. Bindweed, mallee fringe-lily & yellow rush lilies.
December 13, 2024 at 10:05 AM
Reposted by HP Waudby
Buy @hpwaudby.bsky.social’s book, it’s full of cracking yarns www.publish.csiro.au/book/8128/?f...
December 6, 2024 at 6:05 AM
Reposted by HP Waudby
Whoa! I'm feeling very satisfied, accomplished and just so deeply rewarded by this simple reality. The proof has arrived and it's everything I hoped it would be. I had next to no sleep last night but as of tomorrow I will be doing a final edit and then, it will be on sale. #birds #birding
December 5, 2024 at 8:03 AM
Great to be back out in the field after 7 months of parental leave. Listening to the water birds fussing about and bell frogs calling at Gayini on twilight was a bit magic…
November 18, 2024 at 8:40 PM
Reposted by HP Waudby
Got my copy! Thanks @hpwaudby.bsky.social for inviting me to be part of this awesome collection of stories highlighting the diversity of experiences working with nature. Hope this book inspires more readers to explore ecology and conservation opportunities! 🌏 publish.csiro.au/book/8128/
September 18, 2024 at 10:42 AM