A status update on the coordination of flying-fox monitoring in New South Wales

Monitoring populations of flying-foxes is challenging considering their nomadic habits but is needed for conservation status assessments and tracking movement trends to inform management issues. National censuses involving synchronous counts at as many flying-fox roosts as possible have been undertaken, including into the present day with the National Flying-fox Monitoring Program. Established in 2012, this program involves quarterly censuses in the months of February, May, August and November. This paper focuses on how the program is operating in New South Wales, where there are currently 476 known roosts. As of March 2026, 52% of known roosts are assigned to participant/s, up from 35% in 2019, which is monumental considering the state’s number of known roosts increased by 41% over the same timeframe. Land managers contribute to the largest proportion of coverage, followed by New South Wales Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water staff and wildlife rehabilitators. The major coverage gaps assessed at a local government area level were unassigned roosts in seven local government areas situated in the Northern Rivers, Mid North Coast and Far South Coast regions. New technological innovations using weather radar and drone-acquired thermal orthomosaics are being explored by scientists to help fill coverage gaps. In addition, the Australian Flying-fox Monitor, an online platform launched in July 2025, is helping to streamline data submission and display data in real-time, which will be necessary for handling larger datasets into the future in line with the goal of having coverage closer to 100% of roosts. To that end, we are appealing for new roost monitoring participants, especially from areas with major coverage gaps.