Re: Pardalote nest hollows

["Peter Ormay" <>]

Hello all

 

Attached are photos of my Pardalote nest hollows. They are all made of sections of hollow branches or logs but boxes of sawn timber, even old palings should be OK. The ends are covered with cheap plywood cut to shape and tacked or screwed on. Screws are preferable as it makes it easier to inspect. The inside diameter varies from 80 to 120 mm, length 260 to 450 mm with a wall thickness from 10 to 20 mm. The second hollow has so many cracks in it that I had to put wire around it to hold it together. It had a brood in it about a month ago. 

 

Entrance diameter is 25 mm. Any larger invites problems with sparrows. Hollows 1, 3 and 4 have plywood rings tacked over their entrances to keep sparrows out. I had problems with sparrows but I removed them using a nestbox with a 30mm entrance. When a sparrow went in I stuffed a rag in the etrance and took the nestbox inside to remove the sparrow.

 

The hollows are held up with wire attached to cup hooks screwed up into the eaves. The third hollow has pieces of wood pushed in under the wire to tighten the wire and stop it wobbling. It has chicks in it almost ready to fledge as I write.   

 

Hollow 1 has been the most successfull. It has been used every season since 1973, usually producing 2 broods. It is 450mm long with the nest chamber (at the far end from the entrance) 65mm high and 80mm wide.

 

Striated Pardalotes build a nest of stringybark fibre and some grass and seem to add to the nest between broods and seasons occasionally building a completely new nest closer to the entrance. I open one of the hollows now and then (after the breeding season) and have found the occasional dried egg left behind which I remove with the nest. They seem to relish building a new nest the following season.

 

In most seasons all four hollows have been used. Only Striated Pardalotes have used my hollows. 

 

They are a delight to have and trouble free except if there are sparrows in the area and can get into one of the hollows.

 

Regards

Peter Ormay

 

 

 

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