The Major Mitchell's Cockatoo is an iconic Australian pink and white parrot that is vulnerable to extinction. These parrots inhabit the remote outback and forage in large flocks. However, their numbers have reduced due to severe drought and have not recovered even with recent rainfall. Other threats to this species include illegal poaching, predation by feral animals and vegetation clearing - particularly old growth trees required for their large nest hollows.

We need to monitor them thoroughly, but intensive traditional bird surveys aren’t feasible in the outback. Through the use of technology, acoustic sensors will be deployed, continuously listening for their distinctive calls. Rather than listen to massive sound recordings, we will develop call recognisers to scan and find calls in recorded soundscapes automatically. By monitoring their calls, we will be able to estimate their abundance, map their movements and breeding hollows, and save this iconic species from extinction.

Your gift will help:

• Provide vital ecological information on the Major Mitchell's Cockatoo in the Mulga Lands of western Queensland
• Deploy acoustic monitoring to guide future conservation action and protection
• Estimate their abundance and map their movements, so we can save this iconic species

The real-world impact of your gift:

Your gift will go towards improved monitoring to save the Major Mitchell's Cockatoo from extinction.

• $30 will buy an SD card to record 250 hours of soundscape
• $100 will buy an acoustic sensor to record pink cockatoos
• $500 will fund fuel for a trip to deploy acoustic sensors
• $2,000 will pay for someone to annotate calls to develop a call recogniser