Now only into its sixth month, our Threatened Woodland Birds of Bruny Island project (TWBBI) has achieved more than originally planned, with 760 trees planted across five properties and an experiment in nest box design underway.
TWBBI has amply demonstrated it’s ability to deliver revegetation and other on-ground works to assist our two threatened birds.
Partnering with keen conservation landowners, in its first five months TWBBI has facilitated the planting of 760 trees across about six hectares on five Bruny Island properties as future habitat for Forty-spotted pardalotes and Swift parrots. Each landowner has put in effort and time in thinking through how the plantings can enhance their property and well as provide habitat into the future.
In conjunction with the Australian National University and Inala, 54 nest boxes for Forty-spotted pardalotes have had their entrance hole sizes reduced to exclude Striated pardalotes and Tree martins which often evict Forty-spotted pardalotes from the boxes.
Monitoring of the adjusted boxes is showing promising signs, with nine boxes being used by Forty-spotted pardalotes but only one used by other birds.
An intent to erect more nest boxes in strategic positions has been put on the back-burner whilst we try to work out how to exclude competitors from the nest boxes, as this could be counter-productive.
Understanding these interactions is a critical role for wildlife managers and is why it is so important that interventions are carefully monitored.
You can upload observations of your nest boxes here.
