Where do wild Gouldians roost at night?

[Finchy]

In my aviary I notice that the Gouldians love to roost fairly low down, under the broad leaves of a 1m high Illawarra Flame Tree I have in there. They have the option of a couple of square metres of fully roofed, breeze-proof aviary with lots of perches and nests, but they choose the more exposed flight area and snuggle in among the big leaves of that tree.

Occasionally one will come a cropper doing this during inclement weather - like last night, a valued adolescent Gouldian died from being caught in exceptionally heavy rain after dark . He was one of the few sons of a really dumb cabinet-bred Blue Gouldian who died in the same way, in precisely the same spot. It does make me think Darwin Awards / c'est la vie / survival of the smartest, but I still hate that this happens!

It has me wondering were wild Gouldians hang out at night, especially given the amount of rain there can be up North... How do they shelter?

[Diane]

Sorry about the loss of your young bird, but your post got me thinking.
I have some solid high perches and the birds seem to like those during the day, but they choose to roost overnight mid height in some (now dried out) woolly pine branches placed either side of the aviary.


Note to self...renew/add branches.

[Craig52]

Sorry about your lose Finchy but you need to consider covering the roof of the total aviary, especially for gouldians and blues for sure.Don't expect your gouldians to sleep in the sheltered section,they want.They are quite dumb birds and if they have the chance to sleep in the open they will. The other problem you will have is wet floors that can that can cause lots of problems to your birds health.
I'm not sure but i think wild gouldians sleep high up in eucalyps,but you must realise the temperature differentes up north are a lot different to yours.
Craig

[venetta]

We have pvc piping in many spots throughout the aviary (and always under cover) where our goulds love to roost. We've put as many fluffy/leafy branches down the piping so they obviously come out the top kinda like a tree..
I could take a photo of what I mean in the next few days if you would like?
I just looked through my photos but couldn't really find one that shows you what I mean and can see properly!

[tims]

I have wondered about this too....mine roost mid height on the feed bowls....bit of a pain with soiling food etc...and right out in the open so I put up a clear vinyl blind to help with wind....but I wonder if it catches the last sun at night or first in the morning??? Or are they just dumb.??

[natamambo]

I have a multi forked branch at the back of the aviary in each flight. Almost all the time all the birds find a spot in it somewhere.

[Tiaris]

Best to learn from what your birds are doing & place some branches in the covered section to encourage them to roost there at night.

[venetta]

I took some photos today when we set up our new holding aviary!!

We have plenty of these in every aviary for roosting and nesting sites!
This is what I meant by the PVC pipe and branches! Though we've now pretty much stripped our paperbark tree lol

IMAG0292.jpg