Help support native animals – install nest-boxes

Unfortunately, it can take up to 200 years for some trees to develop suitable hollows, so it is absolutely crucial that old growth forests are preserved. Many native mammals and birds use tree hollows to live and breed in.

Over time many tree hollows have been lost due to logging and bushfires. Fortunately, there are many people in our community that build and install nest-boxes in their backyards to provide native animals with safe places to shelter.

Nest-boxes are installed as high as possible on the trunk of a mature tree.

Backyard native animals known to use nest-boxes are:

• Birds, such as cockatoos, corellas, lorikeets, parrots, rosellas, kookaburras and owls.
• Marsupials, such as possums and gliders.
• Bats, such as insectivorous bats.

A nest-box is made to replicate the size and shape of a hollow the animal would usually use. The Nestbox Book by Jim Grant is an excellent resource for tips on how to construct nest-boxes that suit specific species of native fauna, and can be found in your local library.