UGLN Nest Box Project (Part 2)

An important part of our nest box project is the monitoring, maintenance and record keeping of all nest boxes we've installed.

Emerald College students inspecting boxes at Marysville

Of the 475 nest boxes we've installed as part of this fire recovery project we annually monitor 373 often with the assistance of Scouts, TAFE and school students.
The other 102 boxes are monitored by the landowners who occasionally send me reports.

Yea HS students inspecting nest boxes at the Yea Wetlands

Recently we have been finding different native birds using the boxes including Eastern and Crimson Rosella's and the White-throated Treecreeper.

Eastern Rosella at Kinglake West

White-throated Treecreeper at Kinglake West

To check the nest boxes we use a nest box inspection camera which saves us lugging a ladder around the bush and is less intrusive to the animals inside the box.

Ringtail Possum at Yea Wetlands

Brush-tailed Possum at Yea Wetlands

Approximately 2/3rds of all our boxes have been used by wildlife including the following species:
Ringtail Possum, Brush-tailed Phascogale, Sugar Glider, Agile Antechinus, Brush-tailed Possum, Crimson Rosella, Eastern Rosella, White-throated Treecreeper and Owlet Nightjar.

Sugar Gliders at Strath Creek

The monitoring is also a good chance to remove any unwanted residents and carry out any maintenance that may be needed to the boxes. Over the last few years we have had 2 active bee hives which I have asked a local bee keeper to remove and so far only 2 nests of the introduced Indian Myna, which were removed and the contents provided a good meal for the local Kookaburra and Magpies.

UGLN Nest Box Project

As usual November and December has been a busy time for our nest box project installing nest boxes with the Scouts and high school students.

Yea HS students at Limestone

With the help of teacher Ken Aitken and the Yea High School Junior Landcare Group we installed 24 boxes that the students built on properties in Limestone, Kinglake and Strath Creek.

Yea HS students at Strath Creek

With the Kinglake Scouts Junior Landcare Group we put up sugar glider nest boxes that the Scouts built on a property in Castella.

Kinglake Scouts at Castella

Emerald College students at Marysville

We've also had help from Emerald College who built many Feather-tail Glider boxes which we installed with the students along the Taggerty River in Marysville.
And a couple of the local primary schools have also been involved. Flowerdale PS students had an afternoon painting nesting boxes built by the Alexandra Cub-Scouts and we installed 6 nesting boxes at Buxton PS with great help from the kids.

So with another almost 50 boxes installed over the last couple of months this takes our total to 475 nest boxes built and installed by volunteers on properties throughout the Upper Goulburn region since 2010.
Stay tuned for the next post which will feature some of the exciting findings discovered recently as part of the monitoring component of this project.