Cute Sleeping Animals AKA Nestbox Monitoring

The Regent Honeyeater Project does fantastic work revegetating habitat for the endangered Regent Honeyeater bird and lots of other critters who live around Benalla. As well as their popular tree planting events in spring, they also run 'nestbox monitoring' weekends every autumn, where the public is invited to help out in surveying the nesting boxes that they have installed in the revegetated areas. This is a very rare opporutnity to see some adorable animals up close and to contribute to their protection.

The task for volunteers is to drive around the country roads in groups of 2-4 visiting nest boxes installed high up in trees. You'll then need to climb a ladder up into the tree tops, open the nestbox and count/identify any sleeping animals who are calling the box home for the day. The creatures most likely to be spotted include the sugar gliders, squirrel gliders, antichinus and maybe an elusive Phascogale. The information gathered helps the RHP team to track the health of populations, understand which habitat they prefer and see if they're breeding successfully.

This trip is beginner friendly. Basic accommodation is provided in the local scout hall and you just need to bring lunch, wet/hot weather gear and a sleeping bag. There's a bbq on Saturday night in the local community garden.

This is the first of three nest box monitoring events to be run in 2017. I thought we would try and get a MUMC group together for this first weekend, but you can also attend the other weekends if you're not free this weekend.

You can checkout their website for further details - http://regenthoneyeater.org.au/nest-box.php