by Carla Caruso

In your travels around the Park Lands, you might have spotted mini ‘cubby houses’ high up in some trees.

Known as nest (or nesting) boxes, these enclosures are built especially for animals to nest, roost or shelter in. They mimic natural tree hollows.

According to SA’s Department for Environment and Water, Australia has the most hollow-dependent wildlife in the world.

The problem is it takes at least 80 years for trees to start forming hollows – and nearly 300 for a hollow big enough for a brushtail possum or cockatoo to use.

And older trees are getting harder to find, thanks to urban development - hence why such enclosures are necessary.

Recently, we spoke to Chris Butcher, the City of Adelaide’s Senior Sustainability Advisor (pictured), about the wildlife boxes nestled around your Park Lands - and their use.

Hi, Chris. How many nesting boxes are there in the Park Lands now? And where are they located?

We have approximately 50... The park with the most is G.S. Kingston Park / Wirrarninthi (Park 23), north of the cemetery – where there are 17 nesting boxes.

There are between two to seven nest boxes [each] scattered across parks 4, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 20, 26, and 27.

*Boxes were recently installed in Kangatilla / Reservoir Park (Park 4) amid the council’s* ***Biodiverse Carbon Offset Planting Demonstration Site****. It’s hoped the boxes will be used by rosellas and pardalotes. Photo: City of Adelaide.*

How long have the enclosures been there for?

Some of our oldest nesting boxes were installed 10 to 15 years ago. We’ve continued to install them since then, and our newest boxes were installed in Kangatilla / Reservoir Park (Park 4) [in October 2021].

Who built them?

Some of the older boxes were made by volunteer groups like Rotary or Men’s Sheds.

Most of the newer boxes are made by fauNature and we have recently trialled some from other manufacturers.

Which species use the boxes, and what for?

Nesting boxes are generally tailored for a particular animal or group of animals. We have boxes of different sizes, entrances and perches that suit the needs of our animals e.g. possums, rosellas, pardalotes, and microbats.

They are used as a safe place to rest and shelter during inactive times (day for possums and bats, for example). They are also used as a safe place to build a nest/dray/roost (bird/possum/bat) to raise their young.

*This eastern rosella was captured by Phil Knight Photography in John E. Brown Park (Park 27A) in North Adelaide.*

Any other tidbits you can share about the nest boxes?

We are currently developing a project to improve our knowledge on this [area], with the objective to develop an app that will, among other things, record the location, condition, and the type of use of each of our nesting boxes (which animal and for what purpose).

This project will develop an app-based system that will link directly with our spatial database.

The app won’t be exclusive to nesting boxes. It will also be used to record and monitor the condition and abundance of our rare, remnant and revegetated local plants, and native animals – including our butterflies – along with patches of weeds that have been introduced into the Park Lands.

*New boxes were installed in Kangatilla / Reservoir Park (Park 4) in October. Photo: City of Adelaide.*

We are [collaborating] with [the State Government agency] Green Adelaide, who are working on a similar project, to make sure the data collected by both projects is usable on State and national databases and can be safely and appropriately used to improve our local biodiversity.

The information above - e.g. box numbers in parks - is presented with reasonable confidence. However, we have recognised the benefit in improving the quality of this data, which is why we are completing the project.