Southwestern Piedmont Master Naturalists: Recognizing Fairy Stone State Park’s Bluebird Trail

by Christine Boran

(Date: October 12, 2023)

It occurred to me as a Virginia Master Naturalist and also as a County Coordinator for the Virginia Bluebird Society (VBS) that the largest reward I get is being involved in the protocols of trail planning and installations, training the monitors “in the field”, and being there for them for the multiple nesting seasons for questions and any issues that can arise during the nesting season. In Patrick County, I would like to highlight success for the bluebirds and recognize the outstanding and enthusiastic trail managers VMN volunteers who make it possible for the trail to succeed by careful monitoring and record keeping on the weekly nest box checks. This year, I am wishing and recognizing a happy 10^th anniversary of the bluebird trail at Fairy Stone State Park. Let’s get to know more about this trail and the Southwestern Piedmont Chapter VMNs who manage it. With my sincere thanks, I want to say to them, “It takes a bluebird village” -- you make it happen year after year.

Fairy Stone State Park, Stuart, VA

Fairy Stone State Park’s trail was planned in Fall 2013 with my meeting with the State Park Manager at the park located in Stuart, VA, in Patrick County. I am thrilled this park is located 8 miles from my home. After the State Park Manager was excited to support the project and signed the proposed VBS Grant forms, he asked his assistant manager to drive around the park in his truck with me to look at locations to install the nestboxes. These included discussions of mowing requirements, areas left natural with tall grasses, and locations conducive to be witnessed and enjoyed by park visitors and staff but not too close to disturb the nesting birds. After locations were agreed upon with the park, I submitted the signed VBS grant form for planning a bluebird trail on public grounds and ordered the VBS protocol equipment from nestbox builder Paul Davis, who resides in Nelson County. I knew Paul from serving together on the VBS Board as Directors, and I was well-aware of his amazing workshop skills and the love he had in building the nestboxes. On March 28, 2014, Paul and I met in Bedford County, at the National D-Day Memorial, a halfway point between Patrick and Nelson Counties, so that Paul could transfer the nestboxes and equipment to me. With the help of a state park volunteer, I was able to install the trail at the agreed locations in April 2014.

As a member of the Southwestern Piedmont Chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalists, I met fellow chapter members and husband-and-wife team Brian and Jessica Phillips who wanted to volunteer as the new trail’s monitors/managers. Brian and Jessica shadowed me for training on my 50-box Woolwine House Bluebird Trail in Patrick County that same year, and then I took them on a tour of the newly installed trail at Fairy Stone State Park. I want to recognize Brian and Jessica in their diligence in not only monitoring this trail but also that Jessica Emails reports after each monitoring day of the nesting activity to the state park staff. These two photos show Brian and Jessica in training in 2014 and this year 2023 at the state park’s office next to the office’s hand-painted barn quilt, a Patrick County tradition. I asked Jessica to share thoughts with me on their monitoring this trail and what really was significant for them. This is what she said: “We enjoy the opportunity to get to check the nestboxes at Fairy Stone State Park each week. It is like Christmas morning when you get ready to open a present and not sure what is inside, and all the excitement and anticipation builds just like approaching a nestbox and getting ready to open it. It is cool to hear the young tweeting as approached the nestboxes and when open the nestboxes and the young think you are the parent bird bringing food and their mouths are open. Brian has had a few encounters with the mother birds brushing the side of his face when he opens the nestboxes. Overall, this has been a very cool experience and can't wait for the years to come to see what else is in store for us.”