From Hazard to Habitat: Mother Magpie - Awabakal Education Centre, Dudley
Safety Meets Ecology: The Blackbutt at Awabakal
Back in 2024, we were assigned to remove a large, hazardous, lightning struck blackbutt at the Awabakal Environmental Education Centre, Dudley Campus. Fortunately, AQF5 arborist, Joe Biduti, identified the tree’s ecological value and proposed transforming it into a habitat tree instead of fully removing it.
It’s always a moral conundrum removing a tree of this size. Given that it was rapidly in decline and had dropped large limbs in high-occupancy areas, ensuring a safe learning environment meant removal was very necessary.
Why Tree Hollows Matter in NSW & Across Australia
When removing a tree, always consider its ecological importance—if it’s safe to do so, opt to preserve it as a habitat tree. Across Australia, roughly 300 vertebrate species (birds, mammals, reptiles, frogs, insects, and spiders) depend on tree hollows for breeding, nesting, or shelter.(Taronga Conservation Society Australia). In New South Wales alone, at least 174 species rely on hollows—including 46 mammals, 81 birds, 31 reptiles, and 16 frogs—many of them threatened (Environment and Heritage). Did you know that medium-sized hollows (suitable for parrots) may take 150–200 years to form naturally, and larger hollows used by glossy black cockatoos and powerful owls take even longer (Mt Leura & Mt Sugarloaf Reserves).
Accelerating the Hollowing Process: Hollowhog Tool
To speed up the hollow-forming process, we used the Hollowhog Tool, invented by Matt Stephens in NSW. It allows climbing arborists to carve hollows directly into living or dead trees through a small entry point—without damaging the tree’s growth tissues. A hollow generally takes an arborist 1–3 hours to excavate depending on the size—that’s hundreds of years faster than letting nature do it alone.
The Magpie Nest Relocation
During the removal, we noticed a non-active magpie nest on the outermost part of the lowest limb. Given the time of year and the likelihood of branch failure, we were given the green light to proceed. We relocated the nest to the trunk of the tree, and mother magpie returned for another nesting season.
This project is a great example of meeting our client’s needs (hazardous tree removal) while causing minimal harm to the local ecology. If you’re ever in need of tree removal, habitat installation or some free advice please contact us.
