Nest boxes

nest boxes

Tree hollows provide critical habitat for native species including birds, sugar gliders, microbats and possums for nesting, roosting and shelter. It can take over 100 years for hollows to form and nest boxes provide habitat where hollows are scarce.

We are providing habitat for wildlife on private land, Council land and local schools.

In your backyard

Create valuable stepping stones for habitat in your garden.

Nest boxes

If you already have a nest-box at home or want to build your own, visit Backyard Buddies and Birdlife Australia for some great resources.

Top tips for positioning your nest box

  • An area of native vegetation, ideally with connectivity to other areas of native vegetation.
  • Presence of feeding trees such as eucalypts.
  • Away from busy roads, artificial light spill and domestic animals.

Local success story

An Environmental Levy Grant awarded to WildThings NSW funded the installation of 113 salvaged natural hollows in back yards in the Ku-ring-gai LGA. 55% of hollows inspected showed signs of use by at least 9 different native fauna species including brushtail possums, ringtail possums and sugar gliders. There was also evidence of a brown antechinus in one hollow along with a feathertail glider leaf nest in another. Three hollows were used by microbats with one providing roosting shelter for a greater broad-nosed bat, a threatened species in NSW which rarely uses artificial habitat so a very exciting result! Nesting by bird species included rainbow lorikeets and king parrots.

Download the full report(PDF, 5MB)

On Council land

Council is committed to the planting of trees and expanding our urban forest, but hollows take a long time to develop. We use nest boxes to increase habitat availability for hollow-dependent fauna.

Smart Schools

We are working with local primary schools in 2022/23 to install nest boxes at suitable sites and engage students on the importance of urban forest and habitat. The nest boxes will be supported by curriculum-based education materials and contribute to Council's monitoring program and BioBase records.

Read more about our Smart Schools Programs

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