FEATURE
with the effects of preferential grazing by the cattle, is possibly creating a shortage of the grasses which seed during the wet and perhaps therefore is the factor having a downside effect on juvenile survival rates. However, the biggest known impact the fires are having is to dramatically reduce the number of natural hollows available for nesting. The scientists have discovered that it takes up to nine years for new saplings to become immune to the hot fires and, at the other end of the scale, the older trees which have suitable nesting hollows become more vulnerable to fire. So the old hollow trees are being burnt out whilst no new saplings are surviving to replace them. This shortage of suitable nesting hollows is having a serious effect on Gouldian population numbers due to the compounding effects of potential increased nest predation and increased nest parasitism together with competition for nesting sites from the Long-tailed Finch and feral bees. The big problem here is that even if one was able to control the widespread arson, it takes between 70 to 100 years for a tree to create
suitable nesting hollows, which means that unless alternative nesting sites can be made available the decline of the Gouldian Finch would continue for decades to come. A small scale experiment was conducted to see if Gouldians would accept an artificial nest box. After a number of prototypes and a lot of trial and error, we devised a nest box which, to our delight, the Gouldians accepted. It is even fair to say they are preferred to the natural alternative! Furthermore, breeding results from our artificial nesting boxes are better than in the natural sites as we position them to minimise predation and there is no build up of nest parasites. By sealing and painting them with a reflective paint, together with judicious placing, we have also ensured they are long life and to our delight, are also fire resistant. Famously one nest box survived it’s host tree being burnt to the ground and was sat there virtually unscathed in a mound of ash! Over 3000 nest boxes have now been installed in a number of adjacent suitable experimental sites. This has virtually eliminated competition from
BIRD SCENE 25
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