New Nest Boxes

Several new nest boxes were installed at Huxtable Park today!

Each box is designed with a specific species in mind (small entrance for pardalotes, deep bottom for owls, rear-entrance for gliders) but it’s first in best dressed with vacant dwellings. Many of the trees in Huxtable Park are not old enough to have developed natural hollows for wildlife to nest in, so a variety of sizes and shapes were added.

A larger box for an owl or wood duck installed safely.

The majority of the boxes are crafted by Hollow Log Homes, a Queensland company that has been perfecting the nest box game over the past 25 years. The boxes are made from 100% Recycled high density polyethylene (HDPE) and Queensland Cypress, are termite and rot proof and have a lifespan of more than 30 years.

Nest boxes are commonly known as possum boxes (OK, this one IS for a possum).

A few of the nest boxes are equipped with monitoring equipment designed by Wes at Comfy Creatures. These are a solar powered device that can record inside and outside temperature, air quality and other data along with a camera to show who is currently residing in the box. The best part is that these will have a local wifi connection so by using an app park visitors are able to see who is in the nest box above them!

A rear-entry glider box (gliders will land on the tree and climb up into the box) with a solar panel on the side.

The rainforest was chosen as the location for our microbat box as it is close to the creek where microbats are most likely to be hunting for insects. There is no monitoring equipment on this one, but the easiest way to tell if it is occupied is to check for droppings on the ground below it.

Microbat box in the rainforest. Complete with bat signal on the front.

Word from other bushcare sites with newly installed nest boxes is that within days the new residences are carefully inspected by the curious local wildlife. Hopefully we will have some news to report on this over the coming months.