Ruru Nesting Boxes

General birdwatching discussion, help with bird identification, and all other things relating to wild birds and birding in NZ that don't fit in one of the other forums.
Paul.Bowker
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Ruru Nesting Boxes

Postby Paul.Bowker » Wed Sep 02, 2015 8:16 pm

Up here in Hokianga, I have realised that the Morepork (Ninox novaeseelandae) seem to call less. I was looking for nesting box designs,found a design for "Little Owl" boxes on the British Ornithology Trust site, which looked good.. They have a 70mm diameter entry hole, but the Aussies build Morepork (Boobook) boxes with 150mm diameter entries, which would suit a possum nicely!

Does anyone have any expertise in this matter? Where to site the boxes is another question, I used to see a Morepork hunting with the aid of a street light, to attract the insect life?
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Neil Fitzgerald
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Re: Ruru Nesting Boxes

Postby Neil Fitzgerald » Wed Sep 02, 2015 8:33 pm

There are some suggestions for morepork nest boss in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4525#p20690
To keep possums out you could kill all the possums you can, or put a metal band around the tree or pole you put the box on if there is no touching canopy to anything else that would provide a possum path.
Paul.Bowker
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Re: Ruru Nesting Boxes

Postby Paul.Bowker » Wed Sep 02, 2015 10:24 pm

At present certainly hunting possum, seven + in last few weeks, more to come.


The banding is possible where a tree stands alone and has a smallish clean trunk, I have copied the link for the Little Owl box,

http://www.bto.org/sites/default/files/ ... design.pdf

which has an entrance tunnel 70mm, which is too small for possum, i would think, head maybe, but not body, the little Owl seems to have similar weight to the Morepork but shorter? Length: 22 cm Wingspan: 56 cm Weight: M/F: 180 g

Thanks for any advice.
Joanna10
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Re: Ruru Nesting Boxes

Postby Joanna10 » Thu Apr 05, 2018 9:46 pm

Does anyone have any knowledge of whether ruru do in fact use wooden nesting boxes? We have a pattern supplied by Wingspan and would like to trial them in a bush block, but keen to hear from anyone who done something similar and if it was successful.
Cheers, Joanna
Jim_j
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Re: Ruru Nesting Boxes

Postby Jim_j » Fri Apr 06, 2018 8:26 am

Hi Joanna

I'm sure there was a piece in a recent F&B magazine about a guy in Coopers Beach using them.
My copy has mysteriously vanished ..so can't provide any more details sorry

cheers
Jim
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Oscar Thomas
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Re: Ruru Nesting Boxes

Postby Oscar Thomas » Fri Apr 06, 2018 10:30 am

I have a friend out at Muriwai who has a pair of ruru that raised chicks in a wooden box last season.
Joanna10
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Re: Ruru Nesting Boxes

Postby Joanna10 » Fri Apr 06, 2018 5:33 pm

Hi Jim and Oscar. Thanks for your replies - that's very encouraging. We will give it a go
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Neil Fitzgerald
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Re: Ruru Nesting Boxes

Postby Neil Fitzgerald » Tue Apr 10, 2018 10:32 pm

They generally take to them very quickly.
Boris
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Re: Ruru Nesting Boxes

Postby Boris » Thu Apr 19, 2018 11:59 am

It is very important to locate nest boxes in the shade. I used to get very high nestling mortality with my starling boxes, and so placed a digital thermometer inside to check. I found temps easily hitting the mid-30s C, even just with morning sun only (i.e. east facing). Through video I could also see the nestlings really suffering -the poor blighters collapsed like melted chocolates. An exposed wooden nest box can become a solar oven. They are not the same thing as a natural hollow tree, and don't provide much insulation against direct sunlight, especially later in December.

You need to place them away from direct sunlight, and with plenty of height. My starlings now do very well since I relocated the boxes.
Its also a good idea to mount them very strongly with steel straps and coach bolts. They can otherwise bounce around horribly in a gale. None of mine have ever come down thankfully. A good hole size for starlings is 44~45 mm (no smaller). If you want to keep starlings out, anything smaller than 35mm would be plenty small enough.
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zarkov
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Re: Ruru Nesting Boxes

Postby zarkov » Thu Apr 19, 2018 4:27 pm

Why would you want Starlings to nest anywhere?

Most people can't keep them out of their eaves, etc.

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