Peggy shares decades long fascination with flying foxes

The wildlife ecologist and adjunct professor will speak about the mammal at a free talk in Goulburn on February 3.

Dr Eby has studied flying foxes for more than 30 years. This has involved conservation and management-based research and sharing the outcomes with the scientific community, wildlife managers, land managers and stakeholder groups.

She also works with policy makers and others to promote conservation and is actively involved in public education and outreach.

Dr Eby holds an adjunct position in the Centre for Ecosystem Science at the University of NSW and is a visiting research fellow in the Centre for Planetary Health and Food Security at Griffith University.

The mammal's conservation in southeastern Australia is particularly close to heart.

Dr Eby said she first started studying flying foxes' seed dispersal patches in the Lismore plateau while working with the National Parks and Wildlife Service many years ago.

"Due to the conflict with fruit growers, there was a need to boost the understanding of their movements," she said.

It soon progressed to VHS telemetry tracking of the mammal. Within two weeks she's lost track of three-quarters of a colony but through a mutual friend and more sophisticated technology, eventually found them in the Hunter Valley.

"It was revolutionary and mind blowing so my focus changed...Prior to that I hadn't realised they migrated."

Now she has vast data enabling her to document changes in flying foxes' behaviour and why they moved to areas like Goulburn and Wagga Wagga.

In Goulburn, a camp of about 500 to 1000 bats returns to the Eastgrove wetlands whenever there is a food shortage or habitat loss.

Dr Eby lists climate and land use change as key influences on the mammals' migration and survival.

"Land use change has removed food at critical times of year so there's more reliance on urban environments and cleared areas. They are switching from native to introduced food to get by," she said.

"...When they go into urban areas, it poses new conflicts. Suddenly there are all these noisy, smelly flying foxes and people don't necessarily understand that."

In addition, the mammals can't survive above 40-degree temperatures. Dr Eby said the increasing frequency of such heat, the 2019/20 bushfires and general destruction of habitat had reduced flying fox numbers.

She praised wildlife carers like Goulburn district woman, Heather Caulfield who rescued flying foxes and provided vital on-the-ground information.

Ms Caulfield, from WIRES, will also attend the talk. She is a specialist bat rescuer and trains others to do so.

"I'm hoping (through the talk) to change people's perceptions of flying foxes so they can appreciate the remarkable creatures they are and understand the forces behind their increasing presence in the Goulburn region," Dr Eby said.

"Flying foxes have a lot to teach us about the impacts of environmental change on our forests and on the animals that inhabit them."

The talk will be held at the Hume Conservatorium, 160 Bourke Street, Goulburn from 9am to 11am on Saturday, February 3.