Data Logger Boxes

From: "Keith & Sandy Kridler" kridler"at"1starnet.com
To: "BLUEBIRD-L" BLUEBIRD-L"at"cornell.edu
Subject: data logger boxes
Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 08:34:05 -0500

Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant, Texas
Temperatures reached the high 90*F range yesterday and I truly feel sorry for the bluebirds nesting in my Cornell test boxes with the data loggers that are mounted in full sun. Each group of four boxes are mounted the same but facing the four points of the compass exposing different sides of the boxes to the full sun.

As Pauline mentioned I started with four Peterson oval holed boxes and was comparing them with the "well ventilated" larger and deeper nestbox I have been using since the heat waves of the early 1980's.

I HAD to convert the Peterson boxes to round holed versions because I could not stand it any longer after I lost the first four clutches of bluebird eggs in these boxes and saw Starlings repeatedly on these test boxes. I have two of these boxes on two different land owners about 1/2 mile apart and 8 miles north out of town 300+ acres and 56 acres respectively. I took down five of my nestboxes that were all used last year and these boxes have been up since 1985 at these locations and replaced them with the test boxes.

There were two different pairs of starlings. I feel certain that starlings also removed a brood of bluebirds when they got old enough to reach for the entrance hole even after I installed round hole reducers. I finally fledged a brood from the Peterson's this week, it was their third clutch of eggs and I have another that has just begun incubating and it is her 4 clutch of eggs as she lost the previous three attempts. I have one active nest now out of these four test boxes.

Our "Texas" design I placed in a rural housing development about 4 miles east-southeast out of town. There is a series of six different five acre "house lots" with four actual people houses and I choose three out of four yards to install four nestboxes. Only two of the lots had been mowed so far this year. I took down two existing boxes, one location used since 1976 and the other since 1996 and installed the four test boxes.

I didn't realize that two miss managed Purple Martin houses would be so much trouble at this middle site! I have constantly had to trap and remove House Sparrows and they harass the bluebirds constantly! I have trapped 7 House Sparrows out of one of these test boxes! We had two bluebird pairs fledge young early this month from test boxes and another pair fledged young from a cavity in a dead tree in one of the yards.

Last week we had bluebirds in all four test boxes and another pair fighting one of the nesting birds so the landowner couldn't stand it and installed another box and they now have three pairs of bluebirds with eggs on their five acres with two of the boxes in the back yard with two martin houses in between them. There are now 2 pairs of martins and about 4 pairs of House Sparrows nesting in the high boxes. Bluebirds fledged from a third test box about 5 days ago and a pair is already building another nest so all five boxes on fifteen acres are now being used by bluebirds.

One of the things I see with the constant pressure of the House Sparrows is that the bluebirds are sitting on the eggs more on my visits and guarding the boxes non-stop. It will be interesting to see if the female being constantly harassed by the sparrows will sit on the eggs for longer periods of time. It just so happens that this is the nest we are collecting data on from the last two eggs laid until the eggs hatch. Every two minutes there is a temperature and time check done on this nest as we are swapping out the data loggers every two days. This box is facing west and had to be an oven yesterday and I hope she stayed on the eggs to keep them cool! KK

From: Keith & Sandy Kridler [mailto:txbluebirder"at"sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2004 9:58 AM
Subject: Why install Temperature data loggers? Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant, Texas

Why get involved in some of this research? Sandy and I have been programming and downloading this data now for two years in my nestboxes. We sent the data loggers back and forth the first year so this is really parts of three years. Besides the research Caren is working on there are side issues you can look at. We carry a laptop computer with us checking the nestboxes. We can instantly download the data, scroll down the data and know when the female began incubating. If the eggs are infertile I can look at the data and KNOW what day, what hour, what minute the female decided to abandon the incubation process.... I can look at the temperature the clutch of eggs was subjected to and guess that these will not hatch because they got COOKED! Bluebirds are NOT supposed to incubate a 2 egg clutch but we had THREE 2 egg clutches at the SAME time being incubated full term! I can compare identical nestboxes along my trail and find cooler places to install them, taking advantage of shade or better air flow (more wind). It is warmer at the tops of hills at night than down near the bottoms of valleys. I can show backyard bluebirders that their "beautiful" dark green or dark brown nestbox with no ventilation is KILLING their eggs! I can show them what HOUR & what day they probably cooked! I KNOW that at 10:43 PM on a Thursday night that Mrs. Taylor's female bluebird was removed from the box and eaten from the top of just about to hatch eggs in her front yard. I would have assumed the female "abandoned" the eggs instead of looking down the road a ways for the feathers. I KNOW that Mr. Hedges riding on top of his lawnmower knocked Mrs. Hedges bluebird nestbox off the pole at 2:36 PM just four hours before I drove down the road checking nestboxes. He broke the only white set of bluebird eggs she had EVER seen! We can use these data loggers to record the body temperature of an entire clutch of birds to see what age of young swallows or bluebirds is more susceptible to dying from hypothermia. We can KNOW if the clutch disappears from seldom monitored nestboxes between the 12 day myth time of "don't monitor" and the time they are supposed to fly. You CAN do this research and help the birds!!! I CANNOT put a DVD in our machine and watch a movie but I can scan and program these data loggers....Besides life is TOO short for watching movies....Get involved and take advantage of the "2 year deal" Tina is offering! KK

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