Use of retained trees for nesting by birds in logged eucalypt forest in north-eastern Tasmania

Abstract

In a previous study in eucalypt forest in north-eastern Tasmania four hollow-nesting bird species (striated pardalote Pardcilotus striatus, green rosella Platycercus caledonicus, laughing kookaburra Dacelo novaeguineae and yellow-tailed black cockatoo Calyptorynchus funereus) were recorded in 1989 using hollows in 29 trees, with re-use being documented in 1990 when an additional nest tree was discovered. The present study was undertaken in 1995/96 after logging of part of the area, and a wildfire. Several nest trees were destroyed during the logging. In the logged areas, or patches or strips surrounded by logged forest, 19% of trees were windthrown or had lost the limb containing the nest. Re-use of the tree hollows by birds was examined for the 22 remaining trees. Only striated pardalotes were recorded as re-using previous nest sites following logging; 24% of these nest sites were being re-used in 1995/96 compared with 74% in 1990. Reuse of nest sites in 1995/96 appeared to be influenced by location; three of the four nest trees located in retained strips, one of the seven in logged areas and none of the six nest sites in unlogged forest were re-used. Tree martins (a species not recorded nesting in the area before logging) and striated pardalotes were observed in the logged area nesting in trees which had not been recorded as nest sites before logging, and green rosellas were observed using a hollow in a tree within a streamside reserve within the logged area.