A reminder that COG’s first virtual monthly meeting will be held this Wednesday 10 June from 7:30 pm.
There have been a few hiccups with setting up the meeting, but the COG committee has recently met to approve the conditions and words are being drafted, including the link, for publication on the COG web site later today (indeed a preliminary
notice was put up overnight).
In addition I understand it is proposed each COG member will receive these details by personal e-mail.
Details of the speaker, Alice McGlashan, on Hollow using species and nest box designs for the Canberra region are below, including several links to her web site that members may want
to check before the virtual meeting.
It’s a very timely topic with the breeding season not far away, so please look out for the e-mail and web site details, and put the date and time in your diaries.
Jack Holland
There will be virtual meeting on 10 June. COG members will be separately advised of the details, including how to participate.
The single speaker for this virtual meeting will be Alice McGlashan
on “Hollow using species and nest box designs for the Canberra region”.
Many of our local native birds and mammals use tree hollows for nesting or sleeping. Much of the native habitat in and around Canberra has a deficit of old hollow bearing trees, from land clearing
and selective removal of large trees for timber and firewood. However, there are numerous wonderful urban gardens and public spaces planted with native plants, while across the surrounding rural regions many property owners like Alice are encouraging native
forests and woodlands to regenerate. There is food, and shelter, but not enough tree hollows for our local native hollow using species.
In this presentation, Alice will introduce members to our local hollow using species, and will discuss their unique hollow requirements and nest box designs that have been developed for them.
She will also cover what materials to use for making nest boxes, bedding to add, how and where to install nest boxes to ensure they are successfully used.
Lots of mistakes and poor choices of materials were being made by novice nest box makers during the push to make nest boxes for the bushfire affected regions. So Alice spent quite a lot of time
creating these resources and answering questions and correcting advice given by others on the various facebook groups for a couple of months. Life was pretty busy!
Also Alice has compiled into a booklet and added key design feature improvements to all the freely available nest box designs. The booklet is available for download at:
https://nestboxtales.com/bushfire-zone-nest-box-design-and-species-list-booklets/
And she has compiled some information on materials to use and not to use when making nest boxes on a web page, and also in a booklet for people to download at:
https://nestboxtales.com/nest-box-materials/
