Artificial nestboxes are important because modern intensive forestry removes all old trees suitable for woodpeckers to dig holes in. This has a negative effect not only on nature but also affects us in our own environment: if the small hole-nesting birds have nowhere to nest, they will be absent and will not be able to control the increasing presence of insects and agricultural pests.
Every season, we organise placing of wooden nest-boxes in forests and parks. This year we additionally concentrate on one rarer species, the Coal Tit detected in the forests near Subotica. Originally a mountain species, it started colonising the Black Pine plantations introduced here in the last 200 years. It has more specific needs than other Tit species, so we will try to locate forest areas where the song of this rare nesting species is heard.
Placed nestboxes need to be checked periodically. If possible, chicks in them are ringed for population monitoring, and the nests are annually cleaned because of the parasites that accumulate in them during summer.
This spring we will place in Palić and Subotica-Horgoš Sands about 60 boxes of type A/B (Tits) and some of type D for larger hole-nesting species (Scops Owl, Starling, Hoopoe, Jackdaw). We ask the bypassers not to disturb the nest boxes seen in the parks and forests, because some of our most useful songbirds nest in them! If you happen to notice the removal and destruction of nestboxes, please notify us about the location, and warn such persons, as disturbing bird nesting is a criminal offence punishable by law.
