Nest Boxes

Plenty Gorge Park is a refuge for arboreal marsupials including Feathertail Gliders, Sugar Gliders and importantly the Brushtail Phascogale (FFG listed and vulnerable both in Victoria and nationally). Existing nest boxes at PGP were in poor condition & significant areas of vegetation lacked old growth eucalypts with hollows for nesting and breeding sites.

The key project objective was to enable these species to persist at PGP and to encourage breeding and juvenile dispersal into suitable habitat through a nest box program (construction, hanging & monitoring). An additional goal was the replacement of existing nest boxes hung throughout the park in the 1980’s, found to be in poor condition (missing lids, fallen nest boxes on the ground etc).

Specific achievements include:

•  50 new nest boxes built and hung in appropriate habitat.
• the replacement of old, broken or fallen nest boxes.
• nesting and breeding sites secured for arboreal fauna in old and new locations into the future (projected nest box lifespan 15- 20 years).
• 4 park nest box surveys completed, data recorded, images captured.
• evidence of marsupial occupancy detected (individuals, colonies & nesting materials) in new nest boxes at all sites.
• ongoing environmental benefits in protecting biodiversity within PGP.