Hot property

Almost half of Australia’s arboreal mammals and about 20% of our bird species live in tree hollows. Hollows however are at a premium. It takes about 80 years for a tree to develop hollows and a couple of hundred years for those hollows to become big enough to accommodate large fauna. Removal of old growth trees due to logging and agricultural clearing practices makes any remaining hollows hot property in the faunal real estate market.

Sometimes these hollows present short stay accommodation (click HERE to view). The nest box outside our house has had an annual revolving tenancy of White-throated Treecreepers, Ring-tailed Possums and Australian Owlet-nightjars for about ten years. But sometimes the hollows are more permanent homes.

In a local reserve a hollow in an old River Red Gum has been occupied by Brush-tailed Possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) for about five years. In the beginning it housed two possums, pictured left, although in summer the warmth obviously led the animals to let it all hang out. As the possums grew one moved out and the hollow was snugly occupied by a single possum, pictured right.

Last week however a Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae), pictured left, took over the space.

With the shortage of hollows in the area no wonder it is laughing.