Certified Master Naturalist, Gael Chaney, submitted this article on Monitoring Bluebird boxes.
Monitoring Bluebirds during a Pandemic
Who doesn't love birds? With the shutdown of many places of business and recreation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, public interest in birds, as reflected in sales of birdseed and feeders and downloads of birding apps, has taken off. Just in time, too! Last year in the journal Science, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology published results of a comprehensive study of bird populations that showed a nearly 30% decline—nearly 3 billion birds lost—since 1970 in North America, including many common species that we take for granted.
Amid the bad news, one of the biggest conservation success stories in North America is the eastern bluebird. Thanks to the establishment of bluebird nest box trails, bluebird populations increased between 1966 and 2015, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Populations had declined for many years before that, mainly due to competition for nesting sites by the invasive European starlings and house sparrows. Bluebird boxes are designed with holes too small for starlings to enter, and monitors remove the nests of house sparrows if they’re found. Neither bird is protected by law since they are non-native, introduced species. The latest box design also calls for installing predator guards on the mounting posts and around the entrance holes.
Who doesn't love birds? With the shutdown of many places of business and recreation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, public interest in birds, as reflected in sales of birdseed and feeders and downloads of birding apps, has taken off. Just in time, too! Last year in the journal Science, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology published results of a comprehensive study of bird populations that showed a nearly 30% decline—nearly 3 billion birds lost—since 1970 in North America, including many common species that we take for granted.
Amid the bad news, one of the biggest conservation success stories in North America is the eastern bluebird. Thanks to the establishment of bluebird nest box trails, bluebird populations increased between 1966 and 2015, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Populations had declined for many years before that, mainly due to competition for nesting sites by the invasive European starlings and house sparrows. Bluebird boxes are designed with holes too small for starlings to enter, and monitors remove the nests of house sparrows if they’re found. Neither bird is protected by law since they are non-native, introduced species. The latest box design also calls for installing predator guards on the mounting posts and around the entrance holes.
Photo by Gael Chaney: Bluebird box with post and entrance hole guards
Southwestern Piedmont Master Naturalist Dottie Haley is the Virginia Bluebird Society coordinator for the trails in Martinsville-Henry County. Last year was the first time I assisted with monitoring nest boxes under her care, and I enjoyed it so much that I signed up to do it again this year. It’s a great volunteer activity during the pandemic because the monitoring can be done individually without getting close to other people.
I monitored six nest boxes from the corner of Sam Lions Trail and Mulberry Road down to the east side of Lake Lanier, beginning in March and ending in early August. My husband, Smith, assisted me. Last year was a good year to get started. The six boxes saw 11 nesting attempts with all attempts fledging bluebirds for an estimated total of 43 fledglings. I realized fairly early into checking boxes that it was easier to count the babies if I took a quick photo with my phone and studied it later. I’m sharing some of my photos in this post.
Photo by Gael Chaney: Recent hatchlings and eggs
This year, we still had 11 nesting attempts, but only 9 of them were successful, with a total of 33 fledglings. We found dead babies twice and had to clean the boxes and hope for another attempt. We think in one instance that something happened to the parents because the previous week, the babies were making noise and jumping around like they were extra hungry. Most of the time when we would check a box, the baby birds kept very still and quiet until we were finished. At the other box, the adult birds could be seen nearby, and sure enough, the next week there was a new nest with an egg in it. The night before we found those dead birds, there had been a big storm that was the culmination of a cold (for May) rainy week, so either the parents had not been able to find enough bugs to feed the babies or the little ones got chilled. It was quite disheartening to find dead babies, and I’m glad that didn’t happen during the first year.
Photo by Gael Chaney: Almost ready to fledge
Despite two nest failures, we really enjoyed the whole experience of watching the development of the bluebirds from eggs to naked hatchlings to gradually developing enough feathers and getting strong enough to leave the nest. I’m inspired to try putting up a box near our home at Smith Mountain Lake. There are several boxes in an open yard about a half mile from our house, and we see quite a few bluebirds in that area. Maybe we can host some bluebirds, too!
References
https://apnews.com/94a1ea5938943d8a70fe794e9f629b13
https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/bring-birds-back/
https://www.audubon.org/news/north-america-has-lost-more-1-4-birds-last-50-years-new-study-says
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Bluebird/lifehistory#
http://www.virginiabluebirds.org/
by Gael Chaney, Southwestern Piedmont Chapter, Virginia Master Naturalists
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