When undertaking the retrieval of nestbox monitoring cameras placed in the canopy of forests in Pillar Valley NSW, Sue Bower from the Nature Conservation Council of NSW Large Forest Owls team did not expect she would come face to face with a Yellow-bellied Glider (YBG).

“I’m climbing past the glider tube to retrieve the survey camera – I looked at the entrance of the nest box to see a pink nose and a creature with Ewok ears looking at me, it gave a gurgling call as it dropped back into box.

The nestbox was installed in September 2025 and the yellow-bellied glider was first detected on camera around 2 months later in December. The camera data revealed this glider has been using the nestbox frequently and bringing in leaf nesting material wrapped in its tail.

“At another site a yellow-bellied glider exited from the nest box while a climbing rope was being installed. The animal glided to an adjacent tree nearby, scaled this tree & then glided to a dead hollow bearing tree where it went into a hollow. It was like it had a mapped path to an alternate hollow.

In this case the animals were using Habitech modulated boxes – which we have termed glider tubes as they are cylindrical not square. They have been installed 15m up a gum tree in eucalypt forest in northern NSW, one of over 800 nestboxes the NCC Large Forest Owls Project team have installed since 2020. The project has been highly successful with an 84% occupancy rate of nestboxes and 18 different species recorded using them, including three threatened marsupials.

Yellow-bellied glider is a threatened species which has very rarely been recorded using artificial hollows, making these observations an important finding for conservation. The populations of yellow-bellied gliders are decreasing across our landscapes, due to loss of hollows, habitat fragmentation, fire impacts, land clearing and forestry.

”We see there are opportunities to provide habitat and connect residual glider populations through the strategic installation of nest boxes in regrowth forest, linking areas of mature hollow bearing trees and enhancing wildlife corridors.

“The best solution however is to keep all hollow bearing trees standing & connected.

The use of these glider tubes by yellow-bellied glider offers hope that we will be able to increase habitat for these gliders through the use of artificial hollows in regrowth forests where natural tree hollows are sparse or absent. Retention of all hollow bearing trees and sufficient recruitment trees is required to stabilise populations of yellow-bellied glider and other hollow dependant species on the coastal lowlands.

The NCC with funding from the NSW ET has been working to connect and protect large forest owls, threatened gliders & their habitat.