How Thermal Drone Surveys Work
Every warm-blooded animal emits infrared radiation, heat energy that’s invisible to the naked eye but clearly visible to a thermal imaging camera. Our survey drones carry high-resolution thermal sensors that detect these heat signatures from altitude, revealing animals that would be impossible to spot from the ground.
Here’s what a typical survey looks like in practice:
Flight planning: Before the drone leaves the ground, we plan the survey using satellite imagery of your property. We map flight paths that provide complete coverage of target areas: paddocks, creek lines, timber blocks, and scrub zones. Flight altitude is set to balance coverage area against detection resolution, typically 60-120 metres above ground level depending on target species.
The survey flight: Our pilot launches the drone and flies systematic grid patterns over the survey area. The thermal camera records continuously, capturing every heat signature below. On the ground, the pilot monitors a live thermal feed, noting significant detections in real time. A single flight covers 50-100 acres depending on the terrain and altitude, and battery swaps keep the operation moving, and a 500-acre property can be surveyed in a single session.
What thermal imaging looks like: On the thermal display, animals appear as bright white or coloured shapes against the cooler ground. A mob of feral pigs on a creek flat shows up as a cluster of bright signatures, unmistakable even from 100 metres up. A single fox trotting along a fence line is a small, bright dot moving against the dark paddock. Deer in timber are visible through gaps in the canopy where their body heat radiates upward. The contrast between a 38-degree animal and a cool ground surface in the early morning is stark and reliable.
Post-flight analysis: After the flight, we review all thermal footage frame by frame. We identify species based on heat signature size, shape, movement patterns, and context (a lone bright signature on a ridge saddle moving at walking pace is likely a fox; a cluster of large signatures in a wallow zone is almost certainly pigs). Every detection is GPS-tagged and plotted on a property map.
Reporting: You receive a comprehensive survey report including thermal imagery stills, annotated maps showing animal locations and estimated group sizes, species identification, and recommendations for control. This data forms the foundation of a targeted pest management plan.
When Is Thermal Drone Surveying Most Effective?
Thermal drone surveys add value at every stage of a pest management programme:
Before control operations (baseline survey): You can’t manage what you can’t measure. A pre-control survey gives you an accurate picture of what’s on your property: which species, how many, and where they’re concentrated. This baseline data means your ground shooting or baiting programme targets the right areas from day one, saving time and money.
After control operations (effectiveness measurement): How do you know your pest control programme is working? A follow-up thermal survey provides hard data on population changes. If a property had an estimated 45 feral pigs before a shooting programme and a post-control survey shows 12 remaining, you know the programme achieved a 73% reduction, and you know where the survivors are for follow-up operations.
Ongoing monitoring (seasonal surveys): Regular thermal surveys (quarterly or biannually) track population trends over time. Are pig numbers recovering? Are foxes re-establishing in areas that were cleared six months ago? This data drives adaptive management, allowing you to adjust your control programme based on evidence rather than guesswork.
Insurance and grant applications: Quantified pest damage and population data strengthen insurance claims for crop and pasture damage. The same data supports applications for government pest control grants, where demonstrating the scale of the problem is often a requirement.
Large or inaccessible properties: If you’re running 5,000 acres of rough country with steep gullies, thick scrub, and limited vehicle access, ground-level assessment could take days. A thermal drone survey covers the same area in hours, reaching places that would take you half a day on foot.
Species We Detect with Thermal Drone Surveys
Thermal detection capability depends on animal size, the environment, and ambient conditions:
- Feral pigs. Excellent detection. Pigs are large-bodied (40-120 kg), often in groups, and their wallowing and feeding behaviour keeps them in open or semi-open areas. Detection rates of 90%+ are typical in pastoral country. Pigs in dense lantana or thick rainforest are harder to detect due to canopy obstruction.
- Feral deer. Good detection. Fallow, red, and chital deer are readily detected in open woodland and pastoral settings. Their tall, upright body shape produces a distinctive thermal signature. Sambar deer in dense wet forest are more challenging due to heavy canopy cover.
- Foxes and wild dogs. Moderate detection. Foxes (4-8 kg) and wild dogs (15-25 kg) produce smaller thermal signatures that require lower flight altitudes and higher sensor resolution. Detection is reliable in open paddocks and along fence lines but can be missed in dense vegetation. Early morning surveys during cooler conditions improve detection rates.
- Rabbits. Limited detection. Rabbits are small-bodied and their thermal signature at altitude is marginal. Thermal drones are useful for confirming rabbit activity in specific areas (active warrens show as heat clusters around burrow entrances) but are not reliable for population counts.
Limitations to be aware of:
- Dense, closed canopy blocks thermal signatures from above
- Hot ambient conditions (above 30 degrees Celsius) reduce thermal contrast between animals and ground
- Very small animals (under 2-3 kg) may fall below detection thresholds at standard survey altitudes
- Wind and rain can reduce thermal image quality
We’re upfront about these limitations. A thermal survey is a powerful tool, but it’s not magic. It works best in the right conditions, and we’ll tell you if conditions aren’t suitable before committing to a flight.
Safety and Compliance
All Feral Up drone operations comply with Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) regulations. Because our surveys are flown at dawn, dusk, and night for the best thermal contrast, they are conducted as low-light and night operations under the CASA authorisation those flights require, by an appropriately licensed remote pilot, rather than under the basic daytime rules for sub-2kg drones:
- Licensed and accredited pilots. Our pilots hold current CASA credentials and Aviation Reference Numbers, and beyond-daylight surveys are flown under the authorisation that night and low-light operations require
- Registered aircraft. All drones are registered with CASA as required for commercial operations
- Sub-2kg aircraft. Our survey drones weigh under 2kg including the thermal camera, which keeps them in the lightest CASA weight class, though night and low-light surveys still require the additional authorisation above
- Operating limits. Maximum 120m altitude, visual line of sight maintained at all times, minimum 30m from uninvolved persons, and 5.5km from controlled aerodromes
- Flight area assessment. Airspace classification, nearby aerodromes, restricted areas, and other aircraft activity are checked before every flight
- Property notification. Neighbouring properties are notified when flights occur near boundaries
- Weather limits. No flights in conditions exceeding the drone’s rated wind speed, or in rain, fog, or thunderstorm proximity
- $20 million public liability insurance covering all drone operations
- Privacy compliance. Thermal surveys focus on animal detection, not human surveillance. We do not record or retain imagery of people, dwellings, or private activities
Our Equipment and Technology
- DJI Mavic 3 Thermal. Sub-2kg platform with integrated thermal and visual cameras, long flight endurance, and stability in wind, delivering professional-grade thermal detection from a light, low-noise airframe
- Dual-sensor imaging. Simultaneous thermal and visual (RGB) capture for species identification and property context
- High-precision GPS. Accurate GPS positioning for precise animal location mapping
- Flight planning software. Automated grid flight paths ensuring complete, overlap-verified coverage
- Post-processing tools. Professional thermal image analysis software for species identification, counting, and mapping
Where We Provide Thermal Drone Survey Services
- Hunter Valley: Deer and pig surveys across vineyards, cattle stations, and mixed farming country
- Northern Tablelands: Wild dog activity mapping along the forest-farmland interface and pig population surveys
- North West NSW: Broadacre pig surveys covering large pastoral holdings
- Central West NSW: Fox and pig population mapping for pre-control baseline data
- North Coast NSW: Deer surveys in hinterland valleys and pig detection in coastal agricultural areas
We travel to your property with all equipment, and no infrastructure or preparation is needed on your end beyond providing property access.
Pricing
Thermal drone surveys start from a $300 base fee covering mobilisation, flight planning, and a standard report. Per-acre charges apply for larger properties, with volume discounts for areas over 1,000 acres. The best value comes from bundling a survey with a control programme, using the survey data to target ground shooting, baiting, or trapping operations precisely where they’ll have the most impact.
Seasonal monitoring packages (quarterly surveys at a discounted rate) are available for properties with ongoing pest management programmes. These provide the trend data that demonstrates whether your control investment is delivering results.
Want to know what’s really on your property? Contact Feral Up to book a thermal drone survey. We’ll show you what’s out there, where it is, and build a control programme around hard data, not guesswork.