Native animals left without food and water because of drought and bushfires are receiving a helping hand from humans.

Key points: Authorities are encouraging the community to help hungry and thirty native animals affected by drought and bushfire

Authorities are encouraging the community to help hungry and thirty native animals affected by drought and bushfire Watering points set up have brought a wide range of birds seeking drink

Watering points set up have brought a wide range of birds seeking drink A wildlife rescue group has set up collection points where people can pick up kangaroo pellets and wild bird seed

On the New South Wales north coast, the diet of endangered brush-tailed rock wallabies is being supplemented with sweet potato.

"We're in a situation with rock wallabies that we haven't faced for 100 years to be quite honest," Todd Soderquist, a threatened species officer with the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, said.

"We have a perfect storm going on where the drought has taken out most of the vegetation [and] the fires have taken out all the rest.

"The competition among all the various 'roos and wallabies is creating a situation for the local rock wallaby populations [in] that they're starting to suffer rather badly from lack of food."

Dr Soderquist is part of a program led by the Clarence Valley Council that is looking after a population of the marsupials in the Shannon Creek area, near Grafton.

"To start with, we are feeding them with sweet potato because it has moisture in it and they quickly learn that it's a good food," he said.

"What we may switch to eventually is 'roo pellets [which are] very dry pellets but fortunately for us, they are next to the Shannon Creek reservoir.

"They can get water so we can feed them a dry food like that without causing them any trouble."

Watering points provide rare sightings

In areas controlled by the Forestry Corporation of NSW, watering points set up post-bushfires are proving to be a haven for birds.

Senior ecologist Chris Slade said he was amazed by the range of species gathering at the one time.

Red-browed finches and various species of honeyeater have been using the water point at Kiwarrak State Forest. ( Supplied: Forestry Corporation of NSW )

"It's been quite amazing the amount of birds species that have come back and how fast they've actually detected these stations," he said.

"There's been a number of individual species at one station at one time.

"We've got photos of six or seven species ranging from the red-browed finches through to Lewin's honeyeaters, white-naped honeyeaters and just a fabulous range of species all at the one time."

And it is not just for the birds.

"We've got some goannas utilising the water stations as well as some possums, so some of the arboreal and nocturnal species are using them as well," Mr Slade said.

He is also encouraging people to put full water bowls in their backyards to help thirsty animals.

Community pitches in

Wildlife rescue group FAWNA is breaking its usual advice not to feed wild animals and is providing macropod pellets and wild bird seed to the community to put out for animals in need.

FAWNA secretary Andrew Ryan with one of the Food4Wildlife collection points, at Pappinbarra. ( Supplied: Meredith Ryan )

"In normal circumstances we do not advocate that you feed native wildlife," president Meredith Ryan said.

"It is better you do not feed native wildlife; you don't interrupt their natural survival of the fittest and all those things."

FAWNA is running a campaign called Food4Wildlife, with over 30 collection points across three council areas: MidCoast Council, Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, and Kempsey Shire Council.

"Animals either eat leaf or they eat grass or they eat the shoots," Ms Ryan said.

"They eat bark, fungi, insects, nectar, pollen ...

"All these things are just not there so we're looking at a huge loss of wildlife population if they're not given some support, in some way."

She said the group wanted to make it easy for people to feed native animals the right foods.

"The public are very concerned about wildlife and the need to feed them and we're concerned they get fed the right things," she said.

"People tend to feed wrong foods, which is to the detriment of these animals.

"For instance, bread and things like that, so we decided we really needed to put forward a program through the area we serve."

Monitoring for predators

Back at Shannon Creek, the same monitoring that has captured adorable vision of the brush-tailed rock-wallabies enjoying sweet potato is also being used to keep an eye out for predators.

Red foxes are the main concern.

"At the moment, because the fire has also taken out red fox populations to some extent, it's not a major issue," Dr Soderquist said.

"But we will be watching very, very closely — again, through cameras — in order to see whether there's a reinvasion of red fox into the area and we need to escalate our control."