Here’s an idea !

[yowiedan]

It is something that has been done before. But the problem with using a thermal from the air looking down into the forest is that the thermal doesn't penetrate alot of areas. It really is only good for open areas. I have used thermal cameras on the ground and a lot of the time it can't penetrate the bush. So it's not as easy as putting a thermal onto a drone and everything will be seen. It also depends on the weather conditions, if its been hot like summer months the trees and rocks will be giving off heat so everything is glowing. If its cold, it does stop the thermal from penetrating all areas. Plus thermal cameras are very costly and not everyone is cashed up, a good thermal camera will cost $4000 and up so they are not in everyones kit.

[yowiedan]

Forgot to add I like walking up the trails day or night and seeing what comes our way, more interesting.

[Slats]

Hey Pistolpete
Further to Dan's reply, not only are the thermal camera's expensive. A drone to carry said thermal camera with range to be able to do what you're suggesting would be around the $4000 mark aswell. Let alone trying to identify a subject from the air via thermal imagery would be difficult as well, then you would have to walk to location anyway to visually identify the subject and look for evidence anyway.
I owned a thermal monocular (unfortunately I had to sell it) it cost around $2000 and it didn't record. It's range was only 300m in open bush and it's resolution wasn't the best either.
I reckon the best idea moving forward is to devise experiments that can answer the different questions.
For example, I use an audio recorder in the field and I've been capturing anomalous knocks. I can't be 100% certain what I'm capturing as eucalyptus trees are renound for cracking and dropping branchs due to our hot climate. So, I'm going to try a study looking into wood Knocks in an attempt to identify what is being captured.
I feel that this is the best way forward allowing us to create a broader data set.
Cheers