🚨New Research!
Do nest boxes breed the target species or do they just help its competitors?
We looked at this question for swift #parrots to see if nest boxes are a good long term conservation strategy.
Read it here👇 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/re…
A quick thread (1/10)
(2/10) Tree hollows suitable for swift parrots are extremely rare (and are becoming rarer because of logging).
Nest boxes are a popular conservation option to compensate for rare hollows.
But swift parrots compete with 2 birds for hollows and boxes: tree martins and starlings
(3/10) Tree martins are a small native bird that nest in the hollows and boxes used by parrots - since they're subordinate to parrots, we don't mind if they use boxes, but their nests fill up the boxes, creating cleaning work for managers