00:04Mike Risk is no stranger to watching the Gannett Colony at Port Danger on Victoria's southwest coast.
00:11But this month he's been looking for something more sinister, bird flu.
00:16We're monitoring constantly, looking for any signs obviously of any disease or death.
00:23And now the state government is calling in its top guns to offer some more high-tech surveillance.
00:29A specially equipped helicopter using the latest video and infrared technology to scour the coastline.
00:36If we see something unusual we can radio it in immediately and speak to ground crews.
00:41In some cases that might involve further testing and sampling of that colony or that bird nesting area.
00:49The recent outbreak of the H7 strand in Australia forced millions of farm chickens to be destroyed.
00:55But this strand is killing native wildlife.
00:59And overseas has been known to infect humans causing almost 500 deaths.
01:06It just reinforces the importance of surveillance for the early detection of it.
01:12One of the positive cases of H5N1 was detected just over the South Australian border in Robe, about 200 kilometers
01:20northwest of here.
01:21And authorities say surveillance of Victoria's southwest coast has been an early priority.
01:27We're probably doing 250 kilometers, 300 kilometers a day.
01:30Out there it's impossible for them to cover everything.
01:33So this is where citizen scientists are coming to our own.
01:37We're out there looking.
01:38A smaller search area, but no less important.
01:41A smaller search area, but no less important.
01:44Just to go!
01:44The H7 region has been in to our personal search area for the city.
01:44The H7 region has been in to our area, but not in the area.
01:45But there is a lot of sound.
01:45You
