Year 10 science students from Orbost Community College had a special one-off learning experience at the Rail Trail at Newmerella last Thursday.
They were joined by members of the Snowy West Landcare Group and Landcare co-ordinator, Josh Puglisi for a session in nest box monitoring, which are used to provide habitat for native hollow-dependent fauna.
During the next hour-and-a-half, a pole camera was used to look inside the nest boxes which are high-up in selected trees.
It is a tricky job which involves carefully extending the pole to its full length and then manipulated the camera into a small opening in the side of a nest box. Attached to the top of the pole is a tiny infra-red light camera.
This allows those students standing at ground level to be able to see on a screen what is inside the box.
Usually, these nest boxes have Sugar Gliders inside, quietly sleeping during the day.
However, as they found last Thursday, it was a day when more Brush Tail Possums were found inside the boxes than Gliders.
One of the Brush Tails had a tiny baby with her, and the students were able to take a photo of this.
