Is there anything that hotspots consistently have?

[spk_17]

Besides being rainforests and national parks, what is consistent with hotspots?
Water source, a specific food or Certain animals or wildlife? What makes them drawn to or happy with the areas they're regularly seen in?

Sort of related question: What are the signs they're in the area?

[micathia]

Besides being rainforests and national parks, what is consistent with hotspots?
Water source, a specific food or Certain animals or wildlife? What makes them drawn to or happy with the areas they're regularly seen in?

Sort of related question: What are the signs they're in the area?

As for food, I think wallaby for Aussie yowie, and deer for US bigfoot. Some US guy said that, decades ago, people would pull over their car and watch if they saw deer but today deer everywhere [google The 'Siege' at Honobia].

Where yowie are spotted should not be the place where they are most happy with, but the outer boundary of where they are most happy with. They should be mostly in the centre/heart of forest/national parks, if underground cave systems are available, they will make those places their home I think.

So more frequent sightings these days might be due to:
1. abundant food causing their number increasing (we human are increasing in number too)
2. housing development has pushed the boundary and taken their homeland gradually. (there was sighting in Epping, Sydney and Cranbourne, Melbourne, but not today, old days)

[ChrisV]

I guess a hotspot defines itself as an area of multiple sightings/reports.
There are your usual so called hotspots in the Blue Mountains in NSW, Gold Coast Hinterlands, Far South Coast NSW/VIC border amongst other areas.
There seems to be a common element where the bush meets residential areas. The bushland normally is extensive like a major National Park that has many sq kms of untouched wilderness. The residential areas have housing that essentially has no back fence as such. Thats a very loose description.

Also hotspots could fall into the category where the locals know about it - and accept it - and keep it low key to avoid the general public from invading the area etc. This could create a balance where the creatures feel comfortable interacting with the few locals who accept their presence.

The other idea of a hotspot is where highways intersect bushland and these creatures use the road to cross over. This can be very sparodic and may not have any consistency. But certain roads have many sightings - but the concerntration is less.

[DaveR]

Sort of related question: What are the signs they're in the area?

They make noises. The easiest way of identifying an active area is to place a basic sony notetaker ($100) with 2 AAA lithium batteries ($12-20) set to record continously on its most sensitive setting and set on SHQ (Super High Quality) setting. The recorder will record non stop for up to 4 days.. so 3 nights which is the time I find them to be most active. Ideally you are loking for a weather period that is as still as possible. This is a hit and miss affair with periods of wind and leaf noise sometimes masking any possible activity.

The question is how do you listen to 4 days of sound and pick out the anomolies. When you review the recordings you open the 6 hour period files in an audio editing program such as wavepad (there are many others) and listen to the recordings with the aid of a visual spectrum identifying nearby noise. Vacant sections on the audio timeline can be ignored. Walking, running, woodknocks.. even vocalisations can be identified and cut out to be reviewed and saved.

You do need to be careful though.. I once thought I captured a screaming yowie only to be told it was a fox. I had never heard a fox screaming. I think though you can get a pretty good idea of what is about with this method. It remains the simplest and most effective way of researching on a budget.

[micathia]

Sort of related question: What are the signs they're in the area?

They make noises. The easiest way of identifying an active area is to place a basic sony notetaker ($100) with 2 AAA lithium batteries ($12-20) set to record continously on its most sensitive setting and set on SHQ (Super High Quality) setting. The recorder will record non stop for up to 4 days.. so 3 nights which is the time I find them to be most active. Ideally you are loking for a weather period that is as still as possible. This is a hit and miss affair with periods of wind and leaf noise sometimes masking any possible activity.

The question is how do you listen to 4 days of sound and pick out the anomolies. When you review the recordings you open the 6 hour period files in an audio editing program such as wavepad (there are many others) and listen to the recordings with the aid of a visual spectrum identifying nearby noise. Vacant sections on the audio timeline can be ignored. Walking, running, woodknocks.. even vocalisations can be identified and cut out to be reviewed and saved.

You do need to be careful though.. I once thought I captured a screaming yowie only to be told it was a fox. I had never heard a fox screaming. I think though you can get a pretty good idea of what is about with this method. It remains the simplest and most effective way of researching on a budget.

Hi
yowie/bigfoots are very good at mimic other animals sound/voice. It is a skill they'd use daily for some purpose. I think their skill must be good enough to confuse the real animal, not to mention humans.

I haven't heard your recording. But foxes don't have a big lung. So i guess, if something is loud enough to leave a clear sound, i don't rule out its yowie mimicing. of course, only my guess, i can't prove.

[DaveR]

Hi Micathia.

You would be surprised how loud that fox was on a still night.

Here's the recording. https://youtu.be/v7BrAhIZhew

[spk_17]

Thanks for the input and ideas everyone, its really helpful.