|
Welcome to
The Bluebird Box
since 1995 |
My Nestbox TrailDate: Fri, 4 May 2001 22:09:03 -0400 Today I "monitored" 14 boxes in my park where I have a trail of 7 paired sites. I drove the car between some boxes, and walked between some others, average distance between sites being about 1/10 mile or less. In each case, I surveyed the area visually and using binoculars to see who is around (this park is closed to the public, only birds, reptiles and other four legged animals are around.) Then I came close to the boxes, open each one, noted the contents (if any,) cleaned away wasps (if any,) counted eggs/babies (if any,) noted the condition of nests/eggs/babies (if any,) made necessary changes (if any,) and finally wrote a one line note about each box in the form provided by the park naturalist. Well, it took me just about one hour to finish the job. This is about 8 minutes per site, 4 minutes per box. If the boxes were not paired, it would have taken a bit longer, I would estimate about 5 or 6 minutes per box. My question then is: how much time does it take the BIG trail folks to monitor their trails? Assuming one has 100 boxes, that would be over 8 hours... Some people claim 200 and more boxes they "monitor." If monitoring means each and every box is open, inspected, and written in a data form or sheet, how much time would that take? Please understand, I ask questions to get answers and learn from you. Can some of the big trail lords let us in on some of what they do in monitoring a long trail, and how long it takes? Thank you in advance, Fawzi from MD
Date: Sat, 5 May 2001 06:59:10 -0400 Good morning all. My previous request for information about monitoring "long" trails is really a request for information on ANY trail with more than ten boxes. It would be *real nice* to learn from the big trails as well. Questions are: 1. Briefly what do you do while monitoring? Thank you for replies... Fawzi
Date: Sat, 05 May 2001 08:26:19 -0400 Haleya Priest Amherst MA 35 box trail - in figure eight shape from my house - my house the center point. A golf course is included on the loop. I have boxes in agricultural areas, retirement community, conservation land, US Fish and Wildlife, Industrial Park, private homes, and along highways. One site is high HOSP population (used to be 2 sites). I check my boxes by car although on golf course (a 1 minute walk from my house) my husband and I "fast walk" the trail or I take out the golf cart. About 15 mile loop via car. I can monitor the entire loop, or half at a time. Rule #1 I can't place any boxes off that loop unless someone else will monitor them and keep track. #2: I can place as many boxes as I want along that loop. I can also stop off and do banking, shopping, eating along my trail. I check my boxes between 1-7days per week depending on location and needs and time of season. Depending on nesting cycle I check for predators, wasps, ants, blowflies, are the babies all alive and accounted for, are eggs all accounted for, claim straws, parents alive and accounted for. I also check my boxes for my own sheer enjoyment of the magic of bluebirds. I keep extensive records for the TBT and Nestbox Network and for my own needs. This year I am including tours of my trail and will learn to band in June.
Date: Sat, 5 May 2001 07:23:03 -0500 Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant, Texas much needed rain failing this morning. What is your goal and why are you placing nestboxes is another set of questions to add to Fawzi's list! 1. Briefly (ha ha) what do you do while monitoring? I check nestboxes mostly by car. My boxes are spread out over parts of three counties. I live in Titus county and the county maintains over 500 miles of roads not counting state roads. My trail stretches over 120 miles of these roads in the county. I keep records of nestbox checks in a form of shorthand with each box having it's own 5"x7" index card kept in a binder and sorted out by road numbers. The boxes are nearly all side opening mounted within the county right of way so are within 1020 feet of the road. They are held shut with a pin so can be opened in seconds. It normally takes less than a minute to drive up, watch for the birds, open and inspect the nest, another minute to install a snake trap if needed or remove one and sprinkle 1/2 tsp. Amdro (bait specific low dose, slow acting ant poison spread at a rate of 1 pound per acre) for fire ants. The boxes are flat roofed with up to a 3/4" gap on each side between the roof and side so a wasp nest is visible when I walk up to the box or if grass is showing in the gap I know I have a House Sparrow nest. Normally I can see all of this before I leave the car! I carry a "hive tool" modified scraper/putty knife combination in my hip pocket for dealing with wasps and for cleaning nests. A plastic sack in another pocket for catching ALL of the debris when cleaning out a nest. I normally set the tools or Amdro container on the box roof while checking the nestbox. We don't have blowflies very often anymore so if Sandy is riding with me or Shawn is checking the boxes the "monitor" calls out the contents and they are recorded before we even return to the car. We pretty well zip down the road between boxes and average checking 10 miles of trail an hour IF no sparrow traps are needed or brush needs to be trimmed. Old nests are dumped in 5 gallon buckets in the trunk along with road trash we pick up around the nestboxes. 2. How many boxes? From 19782000 between 179380 nestboxes depending on the year. 3. How long it takes (do you walk, by car, on horse, etc. ?) After the first month when sparrows are removed and all boxes are repaired and sites cleaned about 18 hours. I do have sections where I park and walk checking up to 36 nestboxes. By laying out the trail carefully you can check many miles after work each night by simply driving down a different road each evening on your way home. 4 Goals: Originally to provide a home for a pair of bluebirds who had their home (tree snag) blow down about a mile from my house. Then so see more bluebirds all over the region then upon reading Larry Zeleny's book to "Help Bring Back the Bluebird". 5. Why are you placing nestboxes? After a few years of "hanging up boxes" I actually kind of kept count and bragged to my mom about "raising" 35 bluebirds. She said something like "Great" now you are responsible for them. You need to place 17 more nestboxes for them next year! OK that was easy. Then 130+ bluebirds the second year and another 60+ boxes. Then 315 fledged and another 150+ boxes. Then in 1979, 1,235 fledged and still being "responsible" I began educating the locals and giving away nestboxes and making them "responsible" for the birds they raised! Writing to the bluebird list and educating your neighbors will help you be responsible for the birds you raise this year. KK
Date: Sat, 05 May 2001 10:36:56 -0500 Fawzi and all, I monitor a trail of 26 boxes around our 75 acre crop farm. I do not pair my boxes for reasons as cited by the Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin. I am able to walk it in a loop and it takes me about one hour. I check basically for the same things as others wrote about- species of bird, nests, number of eggs, number of hatchlings and fledgings, parasites, wasps and predation. My boxes all have stovepipe or 4" PVC baffles on them. I have moved several of my boxes more out in the open to discourage House Wrens (HOWR) from using my boxes and it has helped. Last year I had nine boxes used by HOWR, and so far this year none, although typically the HOWRs don't start building nests until mid May. Time will tell. As of yesterday, I have 5 Eastern Bluebird (EABL) nests. Two with 5 eggs, one with 4 eggs, one with 1 egg, and one with no eggs yet. I also have 9 boxes being claimed by Tree Swallows (TRES) although not all have nests started yet. This year I am experimenting with different styles of boxes. I have 18 NABS (North American Bluebird Society) type boxes, 2 Gilbertson round, and 6 Van Ert PVC type boxes. So far all the nests are in NABS style boxes, although I wonder if it could be due to imprinting, because in the past, that is the only kind I have had and I wonder if Bluebirds tend to pick the kind of box they were raised in when it comes to choosing a box for themselves. Time will tell if I have nests in round houses. I had one Gilbertson round house last year, and it did have one nest in it. Mary Roen, River Falls, WI Good morning all. My previous request for information about
monitoring
Date: Sat, 05 May 2001 17:26:07 -0700 Linda Violett - Yorba Linda, Calif. Fawzi, what a wonderful question. For those who have a moment, grab a cup of coffee and take a walk with me . . . others should use their delete key now. I would love to read similar trail notes from each and every person on this List because this is really the heart of what we do and the basis of our varied perspectives. (This would be a good subject to pursue during the slow winter months.) My main 2-hole hanging mansion trail is in the middle of suburbia. Five homes per acre with boxes tucked in trees all around my city in small neighborhood parks and greenbelts and I drive from one green spot to another. After parking and getting my lifter box and pole, I'm immediately scanning the area for hawks, young boys and other dangerous creatures. If young boys are loitering, I pack up come back later. Anything to be learned by opening the box at that moment is not worth the risk. I take my time entering the bluebird's territory, especially before or after a fledge date. The bluebirds should already have spotted me and will usually fly to their nestbox tree while chirping if all is clear. If I see other small birds flitting around foraging and chirping, I continue in a fairly straight approach. If there is silence (possible danger), a slower roundabout route is taken to give me more time to scan the area. During the approach to the nestbox, I'm absorbing the site, listening and looking for who *has* been there: large (predator) droppings, type of trash and location (liquor bottles vs. soda cans). If hawks, jays or starlings are near the area, I often clap them away or point and snap my lifter pole. Before reaching the nestbox, I often take a look through binoculars at both the nestbox and the nestbox tree. If everything is normal, the bluebird pair should have flown near nestbox tree and, depending on their particular habits, calmly waiting for my arrival, watching from a nearby tree or posturing. If everything up to this point looks normal, I'm softly speaking to the birds and they tend to either sit and watch or flit about the branches near the nestbox. During incubation and brooding, the male might be doing this while the female is in the nestbox. If the female isn't seen, I'll speak and touch the box bottom before the takedown and I'm more careful during the takedown. If the female is in the box, I leave her and come back. Otherwise, I'm doing a quick but thorough check of both the exterior and interior of the box. Ants need to be controlled on my trail and pipe cleaners with Tanglefoot is kept fresh on the hanging wire. Are there any new dents on the box (rock-throwers), bb-pellets, paint balls? Who's fesces are on the roof? Any changes to the entrance holes? Is the hanger in good shape? If a new box is hung during the off season, I periodically hold the box at an angle to the sun to see if there are any claw/peck marks in the new silicone caulk coating. During the active season, actual nestbox (interior) checks are standard (per the book) except I make sure to pull hairs and ribbons out of the nestcup after the chicks hatch to prevent tangling. After the check, I will often lay down mealworms and walk away a few paces to watch. This year with some new 2-holed boxes, I've hand-sanded the left hole slightly bigger than the right hole (1.5") to see if I can get an answer to the 1.5" hole vs 1 9/16" hole for western blues. During this mealworm snack time, I watch to see if the bigger left hole is used more often (or exclusively) over the smaller right hole. This is also a good time to watch how the pair interact, their habits. If I have time and something looks interesting, I sit and watch for several minutes during the approach and/or afterwards. If the family has fledged, the box is taken home, the nest torn apart and looked through (parasites, what's been fed, condition), the box is scrubbed and left open a few days in the sun to dry before taking it back to the site (a temp box is hung at the fledged site as a placeholder). Today, a leftover bucket of mealworms/beetles were dumped at a fledged site so I could do a post-fledge count and watch the family interact. Last week, I had sparrow material being brought into a 2-holed box that seemed to be owned by a female. I stopped by that site every day last week after work to make sure all was OK (yes). At one site with a dive-bombing pair, the box is opened only for the egg/chick counts but closed visits are done weekly with binoculars from a distance. With a smaller trail, you can learn so much . . . Yesterday after work, I checked an unused box and hadn't brought any "Hello Mealworms." The absentee pair apparently heard the distinctive sounds of my lifter/pole/nestbox routine and came flying over nearby homes and into the nestbox tree looking at the spot where I had put mealworms down last year. Because of this, I left and came back with mealworms; by this time, the bluebirds were nowhere in sight. Even though I knew their box was empty, I did the takedown routine again just to make the familiar noises and to see if they would fly to me a second time. They did . . . and were rewarded with a little mealworm snack. And my reward was knowing, absolutely for a fact, that this particular little bluebird pair actually look forward to my visits . . . no stress there. Fawzi, it takes me a full weekend and after-work daylight hours to monitor 40 boxes during the active season. I'm also jointly monitoring a 30-box golf course and we try to monitor it very quickly so we don't get in the way of the golfers. It takes us over 3 hours using a golf cart to monitor the 30 boxes and we feel rushed. Previous monitors spent only 1.5 hours per week. "Fawzi P. Emad" wrote: My previous request for information about monitoring
Date: Sat, 05 May 2001 23:20:17 -0500 Nancy in Northern Illinois Hi Fawzi, We have 18 boxes. I didn't consider this a long trail, but it is more than 10 boxes. We usually monitor only once a week. The trail is in a forest preserve along a horse trail. The boxes are set some distance off the horse trail. The forest preserve is mostly prairie. In answer to your questions: 1. First visit of the season we check the box to make sure it is good enough shape and clean out any old debris. On subsequent visits, my husband quickly looks in the box, does whatever he has to, and then closes it quickly. He then lets me know what's happening. I look in the boxes on the first visit and then usually stay on the horse trail unless there is something new to see. I record all the data on individual sheets. Usually, the only thing he has to do on these subsequent, regular visits is to clean out wasps and old nests after fledging. He carries gloves, scraper, brush, and plastic bags all the time. 2. 18 paired boxes. 3. We park our car and walk this trail which is a rather straight one with the boxes at least 300' apart. We have to backtrack the entire trail to get back to our car. We can count on the whole process from leaving our house to returning to take several hours - more if we find interesting things to look at or people to talk to. Since the BB trail is on a horse trail we frequently encounter people on horseback and sometimes we talk to them. Nancy From: "Fawzi P. Emad femad <at> fpemad <dot> com ... Date: Sun, 6 May 2001 09:11:49 -0400 (EDT) Hello all, My Bluebird experience started in my back yard in Heath Ohio and the most successful boxes were always in my yard. This spread into neighbors yard and onto a local 9 hole golf course and eventually all around heath and Newark in peoples yards that I selected by location. Monitoring was done once per week unless the selected day was rainy or not fit to open boxes. i planned these box inspections so they could be walked to with the least steps from where the car was parked. Generally in the morning because this was the best time to nab sparrows sitting in boxes on nests. As I approached each box a visual observation was made to see what activity was taking place near the box. If Bluebirds were flying to the ground feeding in a normal manner you could almost guarantee things were fine at that box. Then if you approach a box known to have Bluebirds the previous week and no activity is seen anywhere near the box you could figure something was wrong. When approaching these boxes i looked closely to spot signs of sparrow nest material in entrance hole or sticking out vent holes. Sometimes you will see a sparrow if they have taken over. Many times I could trap one inside the box by plugging the entrance and carefully reaching into the box with my hand and getting hold of one and bringing it out. It,s surprising how many male sparrows I've nabbed using this method as they guard the eggs while the female is out feeding. This generally only happens during morning hours. When approaching a nest box I always looked for both Bluebirds in a known occupied box so I knew the female wasn't sitting when the box was opened. In some cases I have opened the box to find the female sitting and in these cases I just close the box and continue on. When you approach a box in a good location and still no activity in May its a good bet there is a reason for it. This is the time to look for wasp nests in top of box. If wasps are in box birds will not nest in it. To stop this all the wasp that are involved with this nest must be killed. If you don't get them all the remaining ones will rebuild and continue nesting. It was easy to monitor with a top opening box since you can see the entire nest. Easy to count eggs. Young hatchlings are hard to count with 5 or more even with a clear view of them. Most people would think that my back yard boxes were monitored more often that the others, but not so. They were not opened as often as boxes located away from home because at home I constantly watched activities at these boxes and could tell if any thing was wrong by the birds actions. I could watch the parents feed around the yard and watch them feed young on a regular basis. I once took photos of nest progress in one box every two days from 5 eggs to fledge. Needed a step ladder to take these photos from above as top of box was removed. As it turned out the last photo was on young birds 18 th day in the nest. That same afternoon all 5 fledged. The last few photos had the parents dive bombing me as they do in a circle so that one is coming at you at all times. They were more protective closer to fledging. You can tell a lot by just visual observation of nest activities so when monitoring always look ahead near the box as you approach each box. Joe Huber, Venice Fl. Charter member NABS, Charter member OBS, Life member OBS Joe
Huber http://community.webtv.net/hubertrap/HOUSESPARROWCONTROL http://community.webtv.net/hubertrap/RoostingBluebirds
Date: Mon, 7 May 2001 09:40:16 -0400 Fawzi has asked members of the list to describe their nest box trail monitoring routine. I do not monitor my nest box trail. I live it. I don't have to keep a written record to determine when the chicks are about to fledge so I can observe this miraculous event. I sense it by the way the adult birds act when the fledge is near. The birds are as excited by the miracle as we are and it is quite obvious by the tone of their song and the manner of their flight. Birds are special. They are the voice of the natural world. When you begin to understand their language, you will know you are getting closer to the truth. Other than a rough map I made last year and the photographs I've taken, the only written record of events of the last 7 years since I moved into the forest are the posts I've written to this list. I guess about 100 birds a year fledge from my nest boxes but I keep no nest box data. The birds don't seem to mind and I hope you won't hold that against me either. And, my study and experience of nature is not limited to the birds but includes all creatures, both plant and animal, as well as all natural events because you can not understand one part of the natural world without understanding the rest. I have submerged myself in nature and for days at a time the only contact I have with the outside world or other human beings are the words I write to this list and the posts all of you send to it or phone calls I place to family or some of you. I sleep in the forest and field directly under the stars on many nights and awake to find a living natural landscape and recognize not only that I came from this landscape but that it is vitally important for all mankind to begin to merge back into this landscape or it will be lost. When I was less than 14 years old I could identify most of the trees in the forest, species of birds and animals, and types of soils and rocks.. I could easily recognize the various species of weeds and wildflowers as well but I couldn't and still can't put a name on many of these. When I was a youngster I dreamed of living in a cave with a plate glass door on the side of a snow capped mountainside immediately above a stream from which bears frequently caught salmon and beyond which lay more snow capped mountains towering above green forest as far as the eye could see. As a young adult I chose the warmth of the south over the cold of the snow capped mountains and streams with salmon. But, the result is the same. If someone puts together a 5000 piece puzzle of a picture of a landscape and there is a single piece missing, or if a piece that belongs in the foreground is placed in the sky, the whole picture is off balance even though 4999 of the pieces are in the proper place. And that is the way it is with understanding nature and the birds we love so much. You can keep reading and studying these posts about bluebirds and all the other books written about them, and, you will develop an opinion from all of this information but unless you can grasp the way of the natural world, you will never understand these birds or what life is all about. And the only way you can grasp the way of the natural world is to spend more time quietly submerged in its beauty doing nothing but becoming a part of the landscape. And when you do, the rest will be easy. Gary Springer Writing from the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Northeast Georgia, further north than most of South Carolina and a bit of North Carolina.
Date: Mon, 7 May 2001 11:06:19 -0500 Sorry all---I originally sent this just to Fawzi but thought I was sending it to everyone. Jay Gilliam -----Original Message----- From: Gilliam, Jay Hi Fawzi--- I increased my trail this year to 61 boxes. It is actually a network of subtrails on different folks' properties---5 on two, 7 on one, 16 on one, 18 on one, etc. that are connected by roads where I try to hang some on poles. I would roughly estimate the boxes to cover between 300 and 400 acres and the distance from box #1 to box #61 to be between 4-6 miles (depending on the route I take). I can check all of my boxes in less than two hours!! How do I do this?? An ATV. I can cover the short distances between boxes at 5-20 mph (300' in about 10-15 seconds) and the longer distances at 35-50mph (1 mile in less than 2 minutes). I spend less than a minute at a box (unless there are problems such as wasps). I open it up, check it out, close it, then pull away a short distance and quickly jot down my observations on a small notepad that I carry. I then transfer my data to my main observation sheets when I get home. I know ahead of time which boxes shouldn't be opened (egg incubation) so I just peek in the entrance hole to make sure the female is on the nest. Although I say I can check all of my boxes in less than two hours, that is when I am in a hurry and only want to check the boxes. More typically, it takes me longer because I carry my binos to do some birdwatching while I'm running between subtrails. There are good areas for warblers, fields for various sparrows, wetlands for waterfowl and shorebirds, then there are two active Red-tailed Hawk nests that I like to stop and watch. Also, like last weekend, I like to stop and look for morel mushrooms!! I wouldn't recommend the big trail owners to go out and buy an ATV ($5000-7000) but I already had one and it works out great for me! Jay Gilliam
Date: Wed, 9 May 2001 12:35:00
-0500 This Message is in response to Fawzi's request for trail information and just general details about my trail. I just got back from doing my trail. My current trail I have had for about 3 years. It is in a suburban park that previously was being poorly monitored. I rebuilt the trail utilizing primarily Gilbertson style PVC boxes (13 boxes, 1 set paired.) I still have some of the original NABS boxes (2) mounted on the fence line and one Peterson box just for comparisons sake. Total of 15 boxes, 14 nest sites. The first year appears it was the best as far bluebird production, however this year the tree swallows have found my trail and have occupied over half the boxes (including one of the paired boxes). I currently have two boxes occupied with 9 nestlings and one egg. I must admit I am in ideal tree swallow habitat and only average bluebird habitat. Wrens are a problem but not to an extreme and house sparrows are a non-issue at this time. I have had my share of mice (especially before I get the boxes off the tree line and went with Gilbertson style boxes.) It takes me about 1 hour to walk my trail, there is no roadside access to any of the boxes. The trail itself is in mildly hilly terrain with a lot of surrounding water. I spend about 10 to 15 minutes to drive to the trail (one way from my house.) The trail is in the un-maintained portion of the park (no mowing or tree removal - just safety maintenance.) There is a lot of new housing development going on in the area but for the most part it is pretty isolated from humans. I try to walk my trail at least once a week from mid April to mid August. I admit I miss that mark on occasion, but usually due to weather conditions (too cold to open the boxes, or just too muddy to even get in). I never go for more than 14 days between monitoring a box. I spend about 30 seconds to a minute at each box. The rest of time I am on my trail I look for birds (any species - I use the trail as practice for my Breeding Bird Survey Route, trying to identify every species I hear or see.) As many of you know I consider myself a passive bluebirder. I enjoy what the trail gives me. There are times when it gives me birding experiences, and other times just quite solitude. I must admit on occasion the trail becomes somewhat of a chore as I am now basically working three jobs (my real one with a electric power company, my own Laundromat, and my web site development business). Squeezing in another thing, whether it is for enjoyment or not, is sometimes torture. Here is the "sort of..." I mentioned that I just got back from the trail. I had picked up over 15 ticks in my relatively short walk. While I am not deathly afraid of them they are on the creepy side. I only found one, so far, that was attached. I wait as long as possible to put repellant on, and I guess I waited too long this time. I guess this is going to be a bad year as I have never had more than one or two ticks on me in the past. Jim McLochlin The Audubon Society of Omaha = http://audubon-omaha.org/ Date: Sun, 05 May 2002 09:49:19 -0500 Here is a diary of my first time having a pair of Bluebirds set up a nest on our property! http://www.cranberrybend.com/bluebird.htm Susan From: "Keith & Sandy Kridler" kridler"at"1starnet.com Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant, Texas I saw the first bluebirds raised in a box (#1 of 4) on our 42 acre Texas "farm" in July of 1964 only a month after moving to Texas from Ohio. Our county at that time had one newly built reservoir that was 127 acres! We now have over 6,000 acres of water and are about to build a new 69,000 acre lake that will take 27,000 acres of river bottom off of the northern part of the county and parts of three other counties. One of the "big" industries at this time was a meat packing plant that bought about 150 local cattle/hogs a day from small producers. The Pilgrim chicken plant killed about 7,500 birds a day or about 40,000 in a good week. We were on the eastern edge of the largest dairy production area of the state and most people raised cattle or cut their fields for hay production. Most of the cattle operations shut down when the milk prices/business collapsed in the late 1970's and the packing plant closed in the early 1970's. The oil refinery (in the city limits) blew up in 1966 and was rebuilt and wore out and closed when the oil field in the county played out in 1980. Land and how it was maintained made a huge jump to trees and fallow/abandoned over grown fields. Enrollment in county schools went from about 1,800 students in 1964 to about 5,000 today. Bluebirds and the nestboxes I placed steadily increased until by 1979 I was fledging over 1,000 a year from about 200 nestboxes. Harry Holman (local furniture manufacturer) bought about 850 nestbox kits from NABS after his wife saw one of my bluebird programs that year and gave the boxes away with NABS instructions in Camp county. My fledge numbers of bluebirds plummeted in 1980 in this area as nearly EVERY farm in Camp county had a nestbox. Over the next several years Harry Holman would turn his furniture line into a "nestbox" line a couple times a year to help the bluebirds. I fought back and began cranking out boxes for Titus county and the bluebird population began to explode. About 1985 Harry Holman died and his family closed the business, a Robert Strain read about our efforts and began building nestboxes down near Athens or about 150 miles south. He ended up with a "ton" of extra boxes in '85 (after flooding that area over about 3 years) and donated 700 nestboxes so that every "Scout, 4-H member ETC. could have a free nestbox in my area." Once again the bluebird numbers fell on my trails but they were seen all through the area by now. Yes we did see a lot more house sparrows with these extra boxes but if you read the next few paragraphs you will see the changes that have occurred over the life of this trail and the changing environment we have had to deal with. In the 1960's people killed every snake, chicken hawk, coon, coyote ETC. they saw in this area as everyone was protecting their "garden or small livestock". Bird feeding in the area was NOT popular. Today one store in my county sells about 3,000 lbs. of black oil seed a month during peak bird feeding season. The area was PERFECT for bluebirds then as nearly every farm was "overgrazed". You might have seen on average a bluebird every 1020 miles of road now you average about 1 or more per mile. My bluebird trail is mostly located along road sides in Titus and Camp counties; county info: located 120 miles east of Dallas, 67 miles south of Oklahoma and 80 miles west of Louisiana. Titus county has two coal fired power plant complexes with 6 total generating units producing 3,550 mega watts of electricity a day. One complex is fired by the largest strip mine in Texas with over 70,000+ acres mined/reclaimed/under contract in this county from 1974 till today and burns 1,200 tons of coal an hour. The other burns Wyoming coal. In the northern part of the county oil was discovered in the 1920's and produced 3 billion barrels of crude oil by the end of World War ll. We have the Broseco cattle ranch that covers over 30,000 acres just east of our county. Historically our county was famous for production of whiskey barrels and moonshine production from the sugar cane and corn produced in the county. We still have two large hardwood sawmills in operation. Camp county south of us is corporate headquarters of the second largest poultry producer in the US with two of the largest feedmills in the state within our two counties. One processes over 5 million pounds of grain a day to feed some of the chickens within a 60 mile radius of Titus County. There are more chickens within 60 miles of my home than all the wild ducks and geese on the North American continent. This county produces almost 2 million eggs a day from two farms that are cleaned, graded and packaged and shipped for human consumption under about 30 different labels. The broiler chicken hatchery will "set" over 2 million eggs a day and ship about 1.8 million chicks a day. Total 21 day filled capacity of the hatcheries in this county are about 50 million eggs. The rendering plant can handle offal from about 7.5 million chickens and turkeys a day. We only have three "kill plants" operating two shifts a day in Titus county so most is trucked in. The pet food plant can produce enough fresh/frozen ground meat to feed about 3 million cats a day. A new freezer complex was just opened that holds 30 million pounds of chicken at 30*F below zero. This is freezer #80 that this company now owns and operates across the country. If spilled grain and abandoned nestboxes were to equal "House Sparrows" then we should have the highest sparrow population in the nation. If anything I have less problems now with sparrows than I did in the early 1980's when the cattle business was going through it's last failed revival in this area. KK From: Paula, PaulaZ"at"columbus.rr.com Maynard, I don't live in Detroit area, but rather cental Ohio so don't know if you are interested, but believe our climates are similar. I live in typical subdivision with houses on 1/4 to 1/3 acre lots. My small "suburban" trail here on our street is definitely as successful, if not more so, than a trail I monitor at a local park. I believe the way to have a truly successful bluebird nesting on a small lot is to install two boxes on the lot - one for the nesting bluebirds and one to intercept any house sparrows that would wish to make a nesting attempt. This greatly increases the likelihood of bluebird nesting success in my opinion because the sparrows would rather enter and claim an empty box than attempt to take over a box guarded by the EABL. Now the key to the success of this strategy is trapping and dispatching the HOSP immediately to leave the box open for next interested HOSP. I believe homeowners willing to do this have great hope for at least one brood per year and I believe that this practice is the best hope for nesting opportunities for the EABL in the future. I would ask homeowners unwilling to dispatch sparrows to please not install a bluebird box as they may be calling EABL in to be slaughtered by the HOSP. BTW I freeze the HOSP and take them to local rehab center. They appreciate the food supply for the injured raptors they have there. I have two boxes on my property: one is mounted on the back of my mailbox and faces into my yard (we live on cul de sac so traffic is not big concern) and the other is in center of my back yard in as open an area as I could find. We have landscape plants all around the house and stand of large mature trees at back of lot. Our lot is only 1/3 acre. In 2002, I trapped (with Van Ert universal inhouse trap) 17 HOSP in the back box while EABL successfully raised 4 young. Once the HOSP activity died down a bit, a pair of EABL successfully raised a small brood of 2 in the back box. Their nesting cycles actually coincided part of the time and I had two pairs on my small 1/3 acre lot at the same time. In 2003, I dispatched 5 male HOSP (are the HOSP learning? - less than 1/3 of last year's count) from the front box while EABL successfully raised 5 young in the back box. Bluebirds (I believe the same pair) then had their second brood in the front box, raising another 5 birds. I have helped to install and monitor boxes along our street. I captured 11 HOSP for my neighbor this summer. I know Detroit suburban areas have an abundance of HOSP so this would be the bluebirder's biggest challenge. We have many here as well and my front box is actually located about 25 feet from a sergeant crabapple tree that is a favorite HOSP roosting site. I have had over 15 HOSP in this little tree at one time. In addition to inhouse trapping during nesting season, I use 2 small havahart ground traps and occasional BB-gun forays during the entire year. In 2003, I eliminated 115 HOSP and 41 HOSP eggs. The second largest challenge in a suburban area might be free ranging cats, but our city frowns upon this practice and we have few here. Paula Z Powell (Central) Ohio From: Keith & Sandy Kridler, txbluebirder"at"sbcglobal.net ...I started placing bluebirds boxes in the mid 1960's in Northeast Texas. After about 10 years I bragged to my mom one fall that I had raised 39 bluebirds or so just on our 42 acre farm. She told me I needed to build another 19 nestboxes for these young bluebirds, NO problem. .She gave me Larry Zeleny's bluebird book and challenged me to keep records of all of the nestboxes I had placed over the years.The following year we fledged more than 96 birds in the area. Even more nestboxes were built that winter. The next year Sandy and I fledged 325 bluebirds from a bigger area. Add more nestboxes! The next year in 1979 Sandy and I fledged 1235 bluebirds from only 179 nestboxes and we logged more than 1,200 miles checking nestboxes. If you look at the figures for the sparrows and compare it to bluebirds you will see that these are probably well within averages IF people did not remove so many house sparrow nests. Sandy and I bumped the trail boxes up to 360 in 1980 and 450 in 1981 but stretched out the checking dates to about three weeks. We pulled out a LOT more bluebird nests that had fledged bluebirds but were not able to actually give accurate numbers after that time. I quit counting the nestboxes built around this time when we got to about 2,400 nestbox cards. Up until this time I kept an index card to track the type of wood used and who we gave the nestbox to. The real proof to the pudding on success in bluebirding is if you get to see bluebirds EVERYWHERE you stop in and around your county. You also see hundreds of nestboxes up in good locations that you had nothing to do with building or placing them. People give me a lot of credit with bringing back the bluebirds in Northeast Texas but Sandy has logged more miles and opened more nestboxes in the past than any other bluebirder in Texas, she probably has recorded more years of bluebird nesting data since 1975 than anyone at Cornell. She answers the phone five days a week while I work and handles most of the bluebird emergencies before I get home! Anyway when you see Keith and Sandy pull up in the address book it really means just that to our Texas Bluebirds. And yes we do have bluebirds fighting over thousands of nestboxes scattered all over northeast Texas every sunny day already. KK From: Evelyn Cooper, emcooper"at"bayou.com I started out with one nestbox in my front yard and fledged 8 babies on two nesting cycles. Early October, 2003 was a highlight in my bluebirding experiences. I am the only person (except one nestbox) that has Bluebirds on Cooper Road. Early October, I rode 5 miles of it and they were lined up on the power lines all the way. It was a sight to see. I can surely see that my trail is making a difference. What a wonderful feeling! Thank goodness I can see plenty natural cavities all along these five miles and know that they will have places to nest. In 2003, I fledged 85 babies out of 115 eggs. Evelyn Cooper, Delhi, LA From: khussie"at"localnet.com Wow! You are really inspiring me this morning. I live in a suburban neigborhood where bluebirds probably haven't been seen in at least 50 years. I started a 16 box trail at the local high school 2 springs ago. I have fledged 45 tree swallows and a handful of chickadees in that time but no blues...yet. Last year to my shock I had a male bluebird show up in late spring and he hung around fo a full day but he never came back. I am hoping this will be my breakout year. My mission is to make the bluebird a familiar suburban bird again in my township. Kieran From: Phil Berry, mrtony8"at"mchsi.com During the CBC this year, we counted 286 EABL's in our territory. Ten years ago there were none. Just because you don't see the birds doesn't mean you can't get them. Put up a box. My first box was up 20 minutes before being "rented" by a nesting pair, after I was told by experts that I lived to close to the Gulf, and that "no bluebirds have been around here in many years." I saw one pair nest in a box tacked onto a friend's house, right on the Gulf of Mexico, with no yard to speak of, just beach. One never knows what they will do. Just when you think you have them figured out, they throw in a surprise. Phil Berry Gulf Breeze, Florida Board Member NABS
From: ke4fej1, ke4fej1"at"email.msn.com Within days somewhere a Bluebird in our area will start building a nest, and laying eggs. Could your property have the First Egg Laid in the United States for 2004? Wouldn't that be a wonderful memory. Again, are your birdhouses cleaned out and ready for tenants? Do be a part of this free fun, and also give a bit of help to nature. Our project now has 43 Bluebird Trails and 268 boxes, which should all be ready for the start to the season. We have added a few more Trails on Verna Bethany Rd., and our latest ones in The Panther Preserve and on Saddlebag Creek Trail. We also have added a Bluebird Trail in DeSoto County, which is our 6th county. Trail Monitors have been contacting me getting ready for the season. Maria and Horst in Hardee County have added five more boxes to their Trail. They are trying the new National Geographic box, which is being sold at Lowe's. I have not seen it, but have heard it has an additional sliding side which has a plastic piece, which lets you see the babies without opening the door. Plus, many new Bluebird Trail Monitors have been building their own boxes. It is fun to try different styles of boxes. If you have Bluebirds in your area, and they need a nesting site, the Bluebirds probably will not be too picky. Nesting boxes can be of a design the Bluebirds don't like. Give them, for our heat, a bit more room than 4" x 4" bottoms, and more ventilation at the top, and make sure there is good drainage in the bottom, and a 2 to 3 inch overhang in the front, which helps make shade from the sun. Our very first Trail M 1 or Manatee County Trail one, told me she through the fall and winter she has been looking into her boxes. She does have some boxes which hang on a tree and on fence posts, one box seemed to be a bit heavier when she went to check.. She got all excited. But, when she looked to her surprise there was a Rattlesnake curled up inside the box! She then told me that is was probably only a foot and a half long. What I wanted to know is how did she get it uncurled to know? Yes, finding a snake in your box could happen. This is the nature of the land you live on. I do have to say this is only the fourth story I have heard of this happening in over two years, and I listen to people from all over the country. I would suggest that when you check your boxes that you do not immediately stick your face up to your box. Open slowly and lift up the door standing back and to the side. What you may find more often are Wasps and Hornets, you also do not want them flying right out at you. I have had a frog leap onto my face: I was not checking boxes at the time. All the same, I would hope you never know what it is like to rip a frog off the middle of your face, that happening alone was a heart stopper. If you ever do find a snake in your box, I would suggest to let go of the door and move a good distance away from the box. Let the snake go on it's own way. Remember it is never too late to put up a Bluebird house. Last year most of our 185 boxes were put up toward the end of the second breeding season. Only 25 of those boxes were used, and with most being used in the first breeding. ... We are a Project Group, but what many of you probably like is that their are no meetings, no dues, no contact with other Trail Monitors. A Bluebird Trail is about you and the birds found on your property. I only e-mail if I do not receive your reports, and I will only e-mail when I think you would like to know a special bit of information. I do not want to be a bother. Contact me at anytime. I am not an expert, but I will help you all I can and as long as it takes you to help you and your birds. Anyone can join our Bluebird Project, and if you have five boxes I will assign you a Trail number if you promise to report weekly. I do have Trail setups 5 boxes, 5 poles and 3 predator guards for $75.00, or we can talk about other boxes you might use. Give me a call at 355-5265, or e-mail ke4fej1"at"email.msn.com and do look at our web site http://ke4fej1.tripod.com/ Christy Sarasota, FL Web Site http://ke4fej1.tripod.com/ From: John Schuster,
wildwingco"at"earthlink.net From: Dan Hanan [mailto:danhan7"at"earthlink.net] I did my first trail check of 2004 on Thursday, February 24. Twenty four boxes were cleaned, two new boxes were added, and some other minor changes were made. To my surprise, the EABL's had been active. There were five boxes with nests started in them, another box had claim straws in it, while still another had a complete nest with one EABL egg in it. The egg may not make it as the weather was turning cold on Thursday and sleet was expected Friday evening. From: ke4fej1 Congratulations, Dan on the early Monitoring of your boxes and finding so much activity and especially your find of an egg! How thrilling for us all to know the breeding has begun ...finally! I love to hear all of the reports that come in as the months go by, and as the warm weather reaches far up North. Being so far South is an advantage to having a first egg...but then the down side is when the middle of July gets here things are winding up when up North birds are still laying. It was because of the reports of nests by Evelyn last year that made me contact my Monitors to start to look for eggs. We were going to start looking the first Saturday in March, but instead we found 5 eggs already laid. And then the best we could figure they were laid Feb 27th ..might have been before. This year so far, I have my 46 Trail Monitors looking in over 300 boxes as of first week in Feb. so far we have about 6 nests but no eggs yet that I have been told about. But, with the idea they could be the Trail to have the BBs lay an egg so early is so exciting to my Monitors, and they are ready to learn and see the BBs actually breeding in their boxes on their land, and they know they will have an important part in helping. These Monitors worked harder at cleaning out and fixing up their boxes, and reading the Monitor Guide and Monitoring and also learning about other birds on their property. These people are taking a lot of Pride in this new venture..... I think that is great. Is there disappointment...sure, but we all learn ....but a nest built is a nest built, and an egg laid is an egg laid. To give a little more up date on our Project.... I will be giving a talk to a 4-H Club next weekend to about 20 individuals. We will be making Bluebird boxes, and then I will explain the 4-H Bluebird Booklet, and then also talk about the Bluebird. The leader said that she will then take over seeing that each individual will monitor their box weekly. This leader sounds like she believes in teaching the youth to learn and act very responsibly, and they Are going to follow through. Sorry, can't remember...but thought it so wonderful, one of my Monitors which never saw a Bluebird...is all ready again but, continued to get involved....he put up an Osprey Platform on his property! I now have two other Monitors thinking of getting their own platforms too! Who would have thought! Also a new Monitor is building Bat houses for people to also put up. I am so excited that instead of those who did not have the joy of seeing the Bluebirds ..they are still just as excited but now are continuing to learn and branch out. I am so proud of my Monitors. Also thank heaven for digital cameras... the Monitors do get to send me photos of birds, boxes etc. otherwise I don't see much from where I live. I just promote, teach, build and deliver. Been building and cutting today. I now have built over 100 boxes! They just add up......... Think Bluebird Christy Sarasota, FL Web Site http://ke4fej1.tripod.com/ (see Osprey nest under M 10 photos) From: ke4fej1, ke4fej1"at"email.msn.com Hi All,,, busy morning with BBs. The weather is wonderful here now. Got another Trail this morning. Also found we lost a baby BB trying to hatch last Sunday, 3 other eggs so far did not hatch from same nest. We had a small cold spell just under 50, but might have been enough to do something here. Also just got a report of a Trail that had no nests last year. Well she had two eggs this morning!!!!!! Talk about an excited person... I bet she feels as if she laid them...she is so happy. Do they have "Nesting Showers" ...But, I wanted to tell you some great news. Ian a 4-H er of Myakka City, FL is the first young person to report in on building his Bluebird box, predator guard and poles. He not only did one, but 5 because he wanted to do a Trail. His parents are very excited to get involved in this Bluebird Project also. ((When he stops being in 4-H the Trail will continue within the family and be added to my Project Trails.)) Ian is 10 years old so he could be Monitoring and reporting his BB Trail for many years! His Trail is numbered: 4-H 9-41 1 - 5 ..which means a 4-H Trail of the 9th Alphabetical US state which is Florida, and the 41st Alphabetical county in Florida which is Manatee County. Then the boxes are numbered starting with 1 and continue within the county. Ian is the first to follow the instructions in the 4-H Bluebird Project Booklet which I wrote...and we are still collecting printing monies for the State 4-H for the final publishing. **What I would like to ask is if any of you would like to send Ian an e-mail of his accomplishment I think that would be great. Part of the Project is to read the Bluebird Monitor guide. Just think how he would feel if some of you that have photos in the book were to send a note of encouragement! (Add the page number you are on too.) I know I was thrilled to know I had actually e-mailed to many of you mentioned in the book. But anyone sending an e-mail would be a great addition to his Project Booklet. The 4-H Bluebird Booklet once it is published will probably stay printed that way for decades, so to know that this young man was the first to put up boxes ..to me is very special and should be to him. Hopefully this Project Booklet will be used not only in Florida, but in all the states as a Project guide to Bluebirds and other Cavity Nesting Birds. So far in Manatee County a home schooled group built 10 BB setups for the Audubon property and is Monitoring them for a school project, but they are also 4-H'ers. And two young people just entered in the county fair BB posters from Projects from the Project Booklet........so it has started here that the youth are getting involved with Bluebirds too! Do drop Ian a line at cwilsondogbreath"at"aol.com Thank You, Christy Sarasota, FL Think Bluebird! From: ke4fej1"at"email.msn.com From: CWilsonDogbreath"at"aol.com From: khussie"at"localnet.com Well, I got my first rejection this weekend, when I asked a local cemetery if I could erect a handful of boxes on the property. It's really unfortunate, because it's perfect bluebird habitat. I could never have imagined it would be so difficult to convince people to let me do this. In every case I have met such opposition. You'd think I was asking for money. It's always the same story- they don't want to inconvenience the grounds keepers. I barely got my trail at the local high school going for the same reason. God forbid they have to go around a few extra poles. He tried to spin it to me that he wouldn't want them to knock them down on accident. Oh well..very frustrating. Kieran Glenside, PA From: Tony Berg, w1vah"at"yahoo.com The same thing happened to me. Although having bluebird houses on trees is a "no-no," that's what I have, with Noel guards. Tony Berg, Williamsburg, VA
From: lviolett"at"earthlink.net The objections to a post-mounted trail are understandable. Ask the landholders if they would accept boxes hidden amongst tree branches as shown on pg. 68 of the Bluebird Monitor's Guide. From: Daniel Sparks,
b4bluebirds"at"yahoo.com From: John Schuster,
wildwingco"at"earthlink.net From: khussie"at"localnet.com Hi Paula, How long did it take you to get bluebirds to nest in your suburban boxes? I have a trail in a suburban area (going on year 3), and have had many tree swallows nest but no blues yet(1 male showed for 1 day last May). Did you already have bluebirds in the neighborhood? Anyone else with suburban blue info? Thanks, Kieran Glenside, P From: Paula, PaulaZ"at"columbus.rr.com Kieran, Be patient. It can take a few years for them to find your trail, but my prediction is they will soon find it, especially if you observed a male Eastern Bluebird (EABL) there last year. I have Tree Swallows (TRES) also and love these birds. During nest building, it's fun to take some small children on the trail (or big ones like me :)) and have them throw feathers into the air while standing about 20 feet from the nest box. The female TRES will swoop and catch them and take them into her box for her nest. Since you have TRES, are you pairing your boxes? If you have a nesting TRES in one box and another box paired with it approximately 20 - 25 feet away, you will have a much better chance of getting the two. If you don't pair, the TRES may take up most of your boxes. I was actually very lucky, or maybe not so lucky depending on how you look at it. I lived in northern Ohio most of my younger life and never saw an EABL. I moved to central Ohio and saw them in my yard the first spring we were here, about 17 years ago. We have an abundance of EABL due to the successful trails in our area - Highbanks Metro Park and Mr. Dick Tuttle lives fairly close (I found one of his banded TRES on my trail last spring - bird fine BTW). So these trail blazers made it possible for me to get nesting EABL in my yard that very first spring. Unfortunately, I did not even know what a HOSP was those first couple of years and lost two nests of baby EABL to them. I had only one nestbox in my yard and knew nothing about trapping HOSP. I'll do another little name drop here - I think most of you know her. Darlene Sillick is my mentor and friend and taught me everything I know about bluebirding. Well, actually the HOSP's taught me quite a bit too, but they were not nearly as pleasant and friendly as Darlene. Two years ago, I rehabbed an old "Bluebird Trail" at a local park. The "trail" had actually become "House Sparrow Haven" for the last 12 years, but no longer. I have had both TRES and EABL on the trail since I have monitored it, more EABL last year than first. Paula Z Powell (Central) Ohio -- From: khussie"at"localnet.com Thanks, That's a cool idea- throwing the feathers. I have learned a lot thanks to this forum and the bluebird monitor's guide- so I do pair the boxes. I also put up as many boxes as possible. I think the more nest sites available, the better- as long as they're monitored. There haven't been bluebirds in this neighborhood for at least 50 years is my guess..so it might take a while. I know of some reliable spots at a large park about 4 miles north of my trail though. Hoping to get the overflow one of these springs. Kieran From: Birder526"at"aol.com From: Phil Berry, mrtony8"at"mchsi.com From: mrtony8"at"mchsi.com Thanks, Christy, When one has a long track record, one expects growing numbers every year. When the bomb hits it can be very discouraging. HOSP everywhere. It seems I am a victim of my own success. It works like this: Bob and Ethel watch Phil labor in the hot sun installing posts in concrete, next day adding all types of guards and bb boxes, then mono lines, and on and on. Bob says, "Hell, Ethhel, I can do that. If he puts up one box and gets bluebirds, I can put up five on our 75" lot and we will get dozens!!!!!"" Then Bob and Ethel get these "adorable little brown sparrows" in their boxes, and they are so cute. Well, Phil told them they were nasty birds, and look at them. Poor things. "They're just birds, Ethel. Lets feed them and help out Mom and Dad. They look stressed." "WE can put up a millet feeder and help all of them. Look at how many are hanging around here. They need HELP!!" And so it goes. Phil now has thousands of the "cute little things" killing his bluebirds. And Bob and Ethel are still hopeful on that bluebird they want. It is prettier. And they will feed it millet, too. My own friend, who parrot sits for me when I am out of town had HOSP nesting in her awning. When I told her they needed to die, she said, "they are so cute. And so little. I can't hurt them." And what do I do now. Phil Berry Gulf Breeze, Florida From: Jamie Kunz, jamie-kunz"at"stny.rr.com From: Lawrence Herbert [mailto:lherbert"at"4state.com] There is a EABL trail in Crawford County, southeast Kansas, that has 8 or 9 bluebird houses that have been abandoned. They have been there for years and virtually all of them have HOSP in them. No one monitors them, I'm sure they were put up by a well meaning person or group who thought that they would be doing birds a favor. They are just too far away for me to monitor appropriately. I'm thinking of taking them down and putting them to good use where I could check them. But, wouldn't that be stealing? Good birding, Larry H. Joplin MO. From: Bruce Burdett, mailto:blueburd"at"tds.net Larry, I should think that you ought first to find out who owns the houses, or who owns the property. The maybe you might have a chat with them and explain the situation. Bruce Burdett SW MH From: KCBSP"at"aol.com From: Lawrence Herbert [mailto:lherbert"at"4state.com] Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2004 5:01 PM To: Bluebird Subject: abandoned bluebird houses The response was overwhelming to take em' down and put em' to good use. Here's what I'm going to do however: Plug up the entrance and leave a note stating that "These are bluebird houses in an ok area but need to be checked since the uninvited House Sparrows are taking over. I am unable to monitor them here. May I replace them elsewhere so that I may monitor them and bluebirds will have a good chance at using them as intended? Thanks. Lawrence Herbert From: Phil Berry, mrtony8"at"mchsi.com From: KCBSP"at"aol.com [mailto:KCBSP"at"aol.com] From: Tnbluebirdman"at"aol.com From: The Doctor [mailto:sytyf"at"yahoo.com] From: ke4fej1 [mailto:ke4fej1"at"email.msn.com] Hi All, Just a Hello, it just does not slow down. I just received an e-mail report from our 4-H young man and right now he has 14 eggs in 3 boxes and a nest in another. This is his second breeding. He is doing such a wonderful job. With the addition of his egg report that takes us over.. 400 .. Bluebird eggs so far this year!!!! That represents 91 nest attempts. We have lost to snakes, raccoons, 2 footed predators, and just bad eggs about 70 eggs and babies. We are in the last third of the second breeding, and a couple of nests have begun in the third breeding now just starting. This is a great year! We have fledged just over 150 so far. Also we have had a Yellow Rump Warbler, Red Bellied Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Tufted Titmouse, Great Creasted Flycatcher...now with babies! ...and we even had a Starling think they could lay eggs! Now you see them...now you don't. Great news today Avon Park Bombing Range Bluebird Trail, has now joined Christy's Bluebird Project with their 100 boxes. I will be doing all of their reporting to Cornell. They have turned their reports into NABS for years but never to Cornell. One of the people who read the newspaper article written on our Project, called back at that time, and wanted to start a Trail. I told her about two already existing BB Trails up in the Tampa area, which are not monitored or cared for properly. She jumped right in and already has the contact people, and is now getting the final approval to monitor those 80 boxes, and I will also be doing all her reporting to Cornell. With each of these existing independent large Trails I hope to help them do the best and most they can for the BBs in their areas. Oh ..and then finding a way to get all our Trails connected by more Trails. Hmmm how many boxes do you need to connect 100 miles? Don't let anyone slow you down if you have an idea....Gee...my Ma Ma was right when she told me over fifty years ago... "Can't never did anything." Ya know... it is just that simple. And there weren't any Bluebirds down here. Guess they came out of hiding. Think Bluebird! Christy Sarasota, FL From: Birder526"at"aol.com [mailto:Birder526"at"aol.com] Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2004 8:41 PM Subject: Crowes Pasture trail/Cape Cod Hi! I am happy to report that our new trail of 6 boxes at Crowes Pasture in E. Dennis has been successful to-date. Of 6 boxes installed back in late March, 1 had EABL, 3 have TRES, and 1 has BCCH. Our 5 EABL chicks fledged yesterday! A healthy brood! What a thrill! I did notice a male sitting on the pole of the EABL box after I had cleaned out the old nest--not sure if it is the same male or not, but I am hoping a 2nd nest gets underway soon! All other 4 boxes have hatchlings now. I feel privileged to be able to view such a spectacular process! Good birding, Diane Diane Silverstein, Dennisport, MA From: Evelyn Cooper [mailto:emcooper"at"bayou.com]
I wonder if we all took our bluebird nestboxes down, where would the bluebirds and other cavity nesters nest? Some people get so concerned that we are doing them an injustice by providing man made cavities for them, but with habitat disappearing so fast, where would these birds nest? I think we are in it for the long haul, providing them a place to nest will have to be a permanent thing in my way of thinking. From the looks of wonderful habitat around me being bulldozed down and concrete and buildings in place of it, I don't have much hope that the situation will get better. I know for sure since I have provided nesting places on my trail, you can see Bluebirds everywhere in my little neck of the woods. Seven years ago, you could not. So, that tells me that what I am doing is not a bad thing. We just need to help our younger generation be aware that they need to carry the torch! Evelyn Cooper Delhi, LA From:
Evelyn Cooper [mailto:emcooper"at"bayou.com] Well, it just seems to me if we happen to get to enjoy a little of the cavity nesters activities in the process, we are labeled as doing it for ourselves instead of the birds and making them tame. I am not so sure that people friendly birds is a bad thing. We are not living in the 1800's and won't ever be again. Evelyn From: Kenny Kleinpeter [mailto:kpkmajk"at"cox.net]
Amen, Evelyn. Could you imagine if every last human being suddenly disappeared from the face of the earth? How long do you think it would be before any species that we hadn't heretofore made extinct would use their instincts and abilities to adjust to their "new" environment? In about fifty years, old-growth trees would start to rot again and natural stumps would provide all the nesting opportunities that our bluebirds would ever need. This goes for our "institutionalized" purple martin too. Kenny Kleinpeter Baton Rouge, LA From: khussie"at"localnet.com [mailto:khussie"at"localnet.com]
In 50 years they'd ALL be replaced by sparrows and starlings. From: lviolett"at"earthlink.net [mailto:lviolett"at"earthlink.net]
No, House Sparrows would not replace our cavity nesters within 50 years in a world without people. You won't find House Sparrows in the middle of a national forest because people aren't there to feed them. From: Pamela Ford [mailto:jpford"at"comcast.net] Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2004 2:18 PM Subject: Second nesting in MD backyard box has fledged Four nestlings fledged on Father's Day, 6/20/04 . This is the second nesting for this pair in the backyard box (funny, they didn't switch boxes this time between the first and second nestings.) Just to recap, 5/16 first egg laid and destroyed by HOSP 5/17 female accidentally trapped in the HOSP decoy box and quickly released, egg probably dumped somewhere for she stayed out of the yard for the rest of the day 5/18 egg laid in the nest box later in the day than normal 5/19 egg laid mid morning and incubation started in the afternoon 5/20 egg laid 5/21 egg laid - this would appear to be the 6th egg she laid - I've never had 6 eggs in a box before. This box though only had four eggs (HOSP got one and one probably dumped) Also unusual, incubation started 2 days before the last egg was laid. 6/2 one hatchling, 3 eggs remain - baby hatched before 10:30am 6/3 2 more hatched but not until mid morning - a full 24 hours later - still one egg which was encased in an egg shell. I removed the egg shell. 6/3 later in the day, there were four babies and one egg. Wait a minute, where did that egg come from? Since the nesting had some unusual circumstances and it was only 30 feet from the house, I monitored frequently. I would swear there was no way that there were 5 eggs in the box and I missed it all that time! The nest was quite small and compact, no good place for it to hide. Plus, this egg would have been the 7 th one laid and I don't think bluebirds lay seven eggs. The next day the egg was pushed up on the edge of the nest and the following day it was on the ground in front of the nestbox. It was still whole and I noticed that it was not a new egg – it's color had faded somewhat – also it had never started developing. ...Pam in Harford County , MD From: Haleya Priest [mailto:mablue"at"gis.net]
...It is mid-season and I really don't have much idea what is happening for all of our bluebirders across USA and Canada, but I know that here in MA, we are down about 50-60% of adult nesting bluebirds. Thank GOODNESS we didn't have a bad spring, so at least I can say, I've not had one single loss of chicks as yet. Our TRES populations are great, and many MA bluebirders are reporting increase #s of BCCH and HOWR. Many are reporting extra HOSP, including myself. I have 2 pairs of nesting GCFL but no kestrels...... Hope all is well with everyone and that our continued efforts to help our native cavity nesters gives us hope during the dark days of global warming, etc.
From: Sandy Proulx [mailto:sandyproulx89"at"hotmail.com] I monitor about 400 nest boxes in centeral B.C. cariboo region, had a couple of interesting things happen this year. Because I have a lot of boxes to check I only get to the longer trails every two weeks. We have a lot of Tree Swallows in this area, so all boxes are paired around 15 to 20 feet apart and no closer than 500 feet between pairs. On May 15th this one box had 1 Bluebird egg, then on June 2nd Tree Swallows had built a nest over the Bluebird nest and there was 6 Swallow eggs. Next visit was on June 16th and there was 5 young about 3 or 4 days old, which I thought were all young Swallows. On July 1st as I was about 5 feet from the box a there was a young Tree Swallow at the entrance hole, instead of going back in which they normally do this one left, and was soon joined by about 5 adults then it landed on the top of a birch tree. I then carefully opened the box and I found one young Swallow and a young Bluebird. I closed the box and was walking away the young Bluebird also fledged, just then a male Bluebird caught up to the young as it was flying and they both landed on fence post about a 100 feet from the box. The male kept trying to coax the young one to some trees and after about 3 minutes it left the post and landed about 20 feet up in a aspen tree. I'm sure the Tree Swallows hatched those eggs, and the male Bluebird must have been feeding the young along with the Swallows. Also this year I have two pair of Bluebirds nesting in both boxes which are 38 feet apart, this is the first time in 11 years that I'v had them nest that close. Both broods are very close to the same age, one box has 4 young and the other 2, there is also a male feeding in each box. Sandy Proulx, Williams Lake B.C. From: The Doctor [mailto:sytyf"at"yahoo.com] Sent: Monday, July 05, 2004 12:48 PM Subject: First full season of a nestbox trail in NY has been difficult First, were the tree swallows; the tree swallows took 10 of 15 nestboxes quickly. Early TRES nesting attempts were complete disasters with many nestlings (which looked like healthy little TRES) not able to fledge. EABL success has been limited. Only 11 fledged to date. One failed EABL nesting so far and one nest that has had 4 unhatched eggs in it for the past 17 days. Four nestboxes that were used by TRES previously and then cleaned out now have full EABL nests built in them with no eggs. A full HOWR nest has been abandoned it appears after a EABL pair moved into a nestbox which was paired with the HOWR nestbox. I have much less of a HOSP problem here in NY than I had in either IL or IN. However, I have much to learn about EABL in NY. These Northeast EABL pose a completely new set of issues. First, there seem to be fewer EABL in number. Sometimes severely difficult winters in Western NY. Cold rainy Springs and early Autumns make nesting and survival more difficult than was probably the case in southern IL and IN. The area where the nestbox trail is wide open, up on a hill and very windy. The grass gets to be 6 feet tall before it is cut down for hay twice per year. I can't do much about the inclimate weather but I definitely can do some things to change the trail to increase the likelihood of EABL success. I have a greater appreciation for those of you who have had successful EABL trails in the Northeast. I can state from experience, nestbox trail successes are not so automatic up here as they were in IL and IN. My hat goes off to all of you. Bob Sitarski a.k.a The Doctor, Erie County New York ( 42.46N 78.36W ) From: Lawrence Herbert [mailto:lherbert"at"4state.com] I have a total of 65 Eastern Bluebird houses that I monitor here in extreme sw Missouri and se Kansas. Still have 23 sites still active. For the first time in as long as I can remember I didn't have a single clutch of white eggs this year. Good birding, Larry H. Joplin MO.
From: Kenny Lane [mailto:indykenny"at"sbcglobal.net] I am a new member of the blue birders website.I am retired and last year put up one nestbox for bluebirds on property that I purchased a few years ago.I had two nesting attempts from EABBs, and the first produced four babies and the second produced five fledglings.I say that assuming that they all made it,since I wasn't there to actually see them leave the nest.However the nesting material was flattened out.And from what I've been reading that' s a sign that they made it.Also last year my daughter moved to a rural area near Bloomfield Indiana where she discovered she had EABBs in her yard.I immediately built her a BB nestbox fashioned after the Petersons design ,the same as mine and put it up late last fall. This spring the bluebirds accepted the box and laid four eggs.My daughter monitored the box and they all fledged.She loves to watch them about as much as I do. And I am also glad to have found folks on this website that appreciate this beautiful creature as I do. Incidentally the property I own is near Salem,Indiana.If there are any bluebirders in that area on this website I would appreciate your comments.I have driven all over the countryside and have noticed very few nestboxes.! Hardly any! From: Dottie Roseboom [mailto:rosedot"at"mtco.com] Re: Bluebirding in Indiana Kenny, welcome to this list - some great folk here, with lots of info. Everyone is resting right now, after a very busy spring. Bluebirds are a wonderful hobby to share with family. You're pretty observant about not having very many nestboxes in IN. Not many in this part of Illinois either. But we are trying to get the word out. Gretchen & Loren Hughes have a great bluebird society in east-central Illinois (Paris). If you are interested in joining that group, I could send you some info. Dottie Roseboom Peoria IL (central - zone 5) From: Evelyn Cooper [mailto:emcooper"at"bayou.com] The last five babies left me today. Five fledged the first of the week for a total of 12 babies on the third cycle. Two left the previous week. NO DEATHS on the third cycle! This is the first time in my seven years of bluebirding that there have not been deaths on that cycle. It is usually high. I attribute it to the use of solar screen and last week some unusually cool temps for about three days. 153 eggs 114 babies hatched 112 fledged Only 2 deaths 39 infertile eggs Last year, I had 21 infertile eggs and 5 dead babies. Total eggs last year 115, 89 Hatched. I had 38 more eggs this year, 18 more infertile eggs than last year. O.K. now this is not the end of my story. I have one female that has been incubating since July 9th. Today, the eggs were still warm. My husband thinks I should remove them, but I just don't have the heart. Any suggestions? Evelyn Cooper Delhi, LA From: Dottie, Hickory Hollow, Brown County, Indiana [mailto:yumyumkatts"at"voyager.net] Sent: Monday, August 02, 2004 12:44 AM Subject: Re: Bluebirding in Indiana Welcome to the List. Isn't Bloomfield southeast of Indy somewhere around Brookville Lake? If you come to Brown County and drive around and thru Nashville towards Bloomington, you will see lots of BB nest boxes. Most of these boxes belong to Dan Sparks, our Brown County BB club president. Dottie, Hickory Hollow Brown County, Indiana From: The Doctor [mailto:sytyf"at"yahoo.com] Sent: Monday, August 02, 2004 12:37 PM Subject: Re: Bluebirding in Indiana Hey all, I use to maintain 100 nestboxes in the Brownstown/Vallonia/Leesville areas of South central Indiana. Since my relocation to Western NY all but 15 are now inactive/taken down. Just couldn't get anyone reliable to monitor the nestboxes, not even the Jackson County forrestry folks could be bothered. In addition, twenty five of 40 nestboxes were taken down on my old trail in and around Flora IL due to my relocation to western NY. Nestboxes that remain in both IN and IL were left with folks who have turned out to be very good birders. These folks are sort of my EABL legacy. It just takes time to get folks involved. Personnally, I'd rather not see a nestbox at all if all the nestboxes I did see were full of House sparrows From: Bet Zimmerman Sent: August 08, 2004 RE: 2004 Chimalis Trail Report, WOODSTOCK VALLEY, CT (Monitor: Bet Zimmerman, http://www.sialis.org) The last batch of bluebirds fledged from our small trail in northeastern CT on August 10, 2004. Generally I think trail results are like dreams – only interesting to the person who has them. But that won't stop me from sharing some stats, and some lessons learned. (I also report data to the North American Bluebird Society [NABS], The Birdhouse Network [TBN-Cornell], CT Dept. of Env. Protection, and Mazzzchusetts Bluebird Association.) SUMMARY : Total number of fledglings (114); and number of bluebird pairs, clutches (3) and fledglings were double to triple what they were last year; probably because of weather (thank you global warming), more boxes (with empties available) in great locations, significant reduction in local house sparrow population and competition (due to use of passive and aggressive control methods described on www.sialis.org/hosp.htm), and mealworm feeding. Bluebird nesting started two weeks earlier, and lasted a month longer. Bluebirds had three clutches for the first time. I believe two pairs of tree swallows had second broods (extremely rare per TBN). Many more house wren dummy nests in different locations. Only two nestlings lost (tree swallows in late nesting – reason unknown). Peterson box utilization was 100%. Sincere thanks to the Hansen, John, Hosmer and Chapuis families; and the Town of Woodstock for hosting nestboxes. And thanks to the generous people like Wendell and Cher who let me use their awesome photos (since birds in my photos resemble blurry ants), and those who patiently share their wisdom with me so I can improve the usefulness of the website, and improve my own bluebird conservation efforts. LESSONS LEARNED (i.e., mostly things I did wrong. I'm still new to bluebirding. I imagine I'm not the first person to make these mistakes and could have learned from the experience of others….)
RESULTS TRAIL DESCRIPTION
CONDITIONS LENGTH OF SEASON
RESULTS
LOSSES
PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR
From: DottyRogers"at"netscape.net [mailto:DottyRogers"at"netscape.net] Love your sentence about the HOWR's song. I used to love it, too; now it sounds positively frenzied. We install boxes in midwinter (Mazzzchusetts) pretty easily. We take the 2-foot length of 3/4" EC galvi pipe (left over from cutting 10-footers into 8-foot poles) and holding it vertical, begin to tap it gently (sledge hammer) through snow into the frozen ground. Bit by bit, it cuts through the ice, then suddenly, through, goes down as-usual. Tried this 4-6 times; it works beautifully. Always surprises onlookers. --Drop the box-on-pole neatly into fresh hole and, tah-dah. Dot From: Chris&Crystal Hill [mailto:crystaljhill"at"msn.com] 2004 Results of our yard boxes: Total boxes: 3 (all boxes mounted on poles with baffles) Carolina Chickadee: Box #2 located in back of yard facing open lawn (nearby fence lined with brush) Tufted Titmouse: Box #1 located by front porch facing open lawn (nearby Bradford Pear tree) Eastern Bluebird: Box #1 located by front porch facing open lawn (nearby Bradford Pear tree) Box #3 located in back yard (nearby large oak tree): not used Feeders: (available all year) Mealworms (2) All data submitted to TBN Crystal From: mrtony8"at"mchsi.com [mailto:mrtony8"at"mchsi.com] Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2004 6:33 PM Subject: Tiger Point Trail End Of Year Results Another breeding season is gone. Although we had a late start coupled with an Results: EABL fledged: 235 The CArolina WRens were a first for us, the REd Bellied Woodpeckers used the For those who are interested, we have 50 boxes on this trail, and the above GO BLUEBIRDS !!!!! Phil Berry From: Sandy Proulx [mailto:sandyproulx89"at"hotmail.com] Mountain Bluebirds had a good year here in central B.C. We had an early spring, May was warm and dry, in June we had quite a bit of rain but not cold or prolonged and the rest of the season was hot with lots of grasshoppers. I monitor 414 boxes and fledged 1060 Mountain Bluebirds from 276 nests, 168 1st nests and 108 2nd nests. I count any nest that is started after the 1st of June as a second nest. That is up 230 fledged from last year which was my previous high. Second nest were strong for the second year in a row due to the early springs. The 1st egg this year was on Apr. 19th, about 10 days earlier than the average for the last 10 years. Most of my boxes are the Johnson slot box, as I find Bluebirds here will choose the slot box about 75 percent over the standard box if paired together. I have also noticed that if the boxes are too close and facing the same direction and similar like two slot boxes or two standard boxes and Swallows haven't claimed the other box, Bluebirds will sometimes get confused and built nests in both boxes, lay eggs in both and even brood in both nests resulting in both to fail. I find what works best here is to pair one slot box with one standard box, or to try to and have them back to back about 20 ft. apart if possible. Swallows will nearly always take the standard box if they have a choice. I lose quite a few nests to Black Bear, once they start you pretty well have to move the boxes from that area for the season at least. They seem to know which boxes have eggs or young in them. On July 22nd I was out in the Chilcotin Grasslands checking boxes, and came across a flock of around 50 or 60 mostly young Bluebirds learning the grasshopper trade. I parked by a fence line and watched them for awhile, they were even landing on the car every once in awhile. I could have stayed there all day just listening and watching them. Sandy Proulx, Williams Lake B.C. From: Mary Beth Roen [mailto:mbroen"at"hotmail.com] Sent: Friday, August 20, 2004 10:11 PM Subject: Stats for 2004 My trail for 2004 officially ended with the fledging of the last House Wrens today. I tried pairing my boxes this year to see if I could reduce the number of Tree Swallows and House Wrens nesting in my 28 boxes. I feel that pairing did help as my counts are as follows: 2003 in 28 widely spaced boxes (at least 100 yards apart) Eastern Bluebirds - 44 (1.6 fledglings per site) 2004 in 14 pairs of boxes at least 100 yards between pairs which are 15 feet Eastern Bluebirds--54 (3.8 fledglings per site) I will move some pairs with no EABL nesting attempts to better habitat for next year. I know that I can't make a judgment from just one year with the paired boxes, so I am looking forward to next year to see what kind of results I get. I think pairing is the answer for me in my area with high competition from TRESs and HOWRs. Mary Roen, River Falls, WI From: Christy [mailto:ke4fej1"at"email.msn.com] Hi All, Of course all of the nesting is over, but so is most of our talk about anything Bluebird. I still do no have contact with our Monitor in Arcadia. I hear they still do not have phone or electric. I did get to talk with our 25 box Ona, FL Trail Monitor who lives in Wachula. Wachula is just north of the Ona Trail. Both of the John's who are the Monitors had some damage, but repair crews have come in, from all over and just helped them get stabilized. Both had lost roof parts over one room of their houses. John reported the mold is growing fast, and even now with the roof having a patch that all below needs to get replaced and redone, and should be done quickly to stop this fast growing mold. Now that the trees have been cutoff the shed where his truck was ...he can go out to his BB Trail...25 miles away. He also believes that it would be lost. We talked about wood prices and rebuilding and we will do what we have to ..to get it back to what it was before...Maybe even better! I have heard that down in Port Charlotte, that those homes that still have some livable space...is also being attacked by the mold. They say the smell of the mold plus the broken sewage and other decay is almost unbearable. Our first BB box builder surveyed all the schools down in that area and says all schools are damaged and that 6 will have to be leveled. School is running double sessions 7:30 AM to 7:30 PM. Now that is something!!!!!! Our Monitor M 6 Monitor Bambi, her husband has a demolition business and they were swamped before but now she says it is something else. Bambi lost a 3000 square foot building on their 100 acres property. She said that was a tornado that touched down. She was about 10 miles West from the eye path. A friend traveling down the I-75 last week ..it took her 45 minutes to go a few miles. They were bring in some of the 8,000 trailers which are going down south for people to live in. Where do you put 8000 trailers????? Where do they put all of this wreckage of materials??? Avon Park now has phone and electric back as of last weekend. Kacky's computer will not work and she was so excited to have me call. She said as they had no electric for days she worked on her new way to report for Cornell University, and wanted to know how she was doing, which is fantastic!!!!!!! I have only so far entered almost the first breeding and they have over 275 fledglings! They had not gone out to the 100 box Trail but believe that even in their 100 mph winds that they should/might be ok....if not the prison inmates will probable help reset them. Our Monitor Martha close to the Hardee County line finally got in touch with me ...the electric is back on and most of the 100 trees cleaned up ...should say mounds are ready to burn...on their 19 acres. She said she now has more room for the Bluebird boxes now! I am waiting on just two more reports to come in... one from a 4H'er...and I don't know why I have not heard from their family, and the other the Monitor's brother died. When I receive those I have all our smaller Trails recorded for Cornell. It just is hard to get people doing Bluebird when so much is destroyed, but people are seeing BBs still in some yards. I also do not know of 3 individual ladies that have single boxes in Wachula. They now have phone but still do not have electric. They lost their supermarket but a Wal-Mart is back open. I have lived here since 1956 and been through a lot of storms. This one's destruction is just numbing...it seems just bigger than life...40% of homes not liveable...whoa......as one said...those that have to find their way are just overwhelmed...and that the rest of us have a kind of survivor guilt....if it had not made that second turn... I can't imagine life in most of our cities and towns along the coast. We have our health, our homes, our jobs... and looks like out of about Bluebird 800 boxes we only lost about 30 !!!!!!!! Thinking Bluebird!!!!!!!! is getting easier to do again...at least for us that were not hit. Thank You again for all the nice e-mails I have received ...Thank You for your cares about us down here, Christy Sarasota, FL From: Christy [mailto:ke4fej1"at"email.msn.com] Hi All, Just some BB News my way. I am working on the Cornell deadline...which Thank Heaven is moved back a little. I just heard from one of my Avon Park Monitors which had two Trails of approx. 56 boxes. I had traveled over to visit him some months ago to show how to calculate records for Cornell, and to see his Trails, and how he worked them. He has a very beautiful area, and many BBs in his area. He has 25 on his personal Trail. He had taken them down before all the hurricane, so they are safe. He did say after hurricane Francis he has not seen any BBs...a neighbor did see 2. What I did find out is that he does not want to be part of our Project, nor report his records. He did have 168 BBs fledge this year, which is wonderful. His record keeping is weekly as to what he sees on that day. When he worked out the whole nesting though, his figures would not be accurate enough for Cornell the way he reported, nor does he want to pro out his findings. Cornell likes to have the first egg date within a two day period, which he could find by looking at what his other weeks are telling him. He also was giving up the Forestry Trail, and might not even put up his next year. He decided that what he did with BBs is enough, and to do more would be like too much work and no fun. What he says is true...it could be work and at times is not all fun. That is why I am trying to train the Monitors from the beginning how to do their records as accurate as they can. It is hard to change people's ways. As to our other Avon Park Trail Kacky is sending in, and is doing a fantastic job of how to report the whole picture of what is actually happening in the nest. It took weeks of encouragement, but they now understand, and see how reporting this accurate will now help Cornell and their records, and it is becoming just as easy to do. So I do lose a count in boxes to our Project, but overall the BBs are still multiplying here in Florida. I lose a nice fellow BBer, but I do know he is doing a pretty good job with his BB's. I did hear from our 100 box Trail in Wildwood FL I-95 & ST RD 44, her mother-in-law did lose her trailer, in one of the hurricanes, Delilia said she has fledged 91 this year, and she is working on her records. She had been away from taking care of her boxes and record keeping and wants to get back in gear now. It is a beginning! Christy Sarasota, FL From: Christy [mailto:ke4fej1"at"email.msn.com] Sent: Friday, October 01, 2004 2:14 PM Subject: 2nd Year BB Report Sarasota, FL Hi All, OK...below is ALL Bluebird... Last Sept 3 I sent the below report. I will put " ... " and put this years report, last years report will have a " > " in front of the report line. I keep pretty good records, but not as much in detail. Also with this hurricane season I am just finding it hard to Think Bluebird at all right now. The below items for the 2nd year are pretty close to what they are if not exact... This is just to give you an idea how things are changing. > 29 Monitored Trails > 25 Properties walked I through and/or set boxes in best habitat area > 5 Different Counties are involved > Visits to: > Talked to: > Event: > Birds: > At the time of this e-mail: > Me: > I don't take NO for an answer much. > I met the best bunch of BB new Monitors That is the two years since I started. My goals for next year 2005: To continue to help all current Monitors to have the best BB setups To correct the predator problems as best we can from last year To continue to help all Monitors to learn how to report their box findings correctly To continue being involved with the Blowfly nest study To not pursue banding but to put the effort in putting up more boxes. > Christy Sarasota, FL From: Jeanette Stamm [mailto:jeanettefromks"at"webtv.net] HI Everybody, It looks like our final count is in and we fledged 70l bluebirds and 279 tree swallows this year. Since we stopped feeding the coons and snakes a couple of years ago, we are getting pretty successful at this. Before I brag too much, we did lose a lot of adolescent birds around May 20 when we checked the boxes around that date, we found lots of dead birds. Could it have been a cold snap and the bugs all disappeared for a few days? We don't know what happened back then but whatever it was, it was bad for our little birds. Anyway, overall we had a great season and are looking forward to next year. From: Evelyn Cooper [mailto:emcooper"at"bayou.com] I am assuming you were feeding the coons and snakes the bluebirds and other cavity nesters. I take it to mean you took responsibility and put up the proper guards. Bless you! Let's don't forget that ants can be just as deadly. I know from my own personal experience and ignorance. The northern states do suffer greater losses when a cold snap comes and it is heartbreaking. That is when I would make certain I had a bunch of meal worms out to help the ones that I could help during that difficult time. Evelyn Cooper Delhi, LA From: Elizabeth Zimmerman [mailto:ezdz"at"charter.net] My husband and I finished putting up a new bluebird trail at the local (closed) landfill. See article at http://www.sialis.org/smithtrail.htm . Bruce, your experience was very helpful, thanks! I was lucky to get lots of support from the CT DEP, the town selectman, and the transfer station supervisor. Bet from CT From: Mary Beth Roen [mailto:mbroen"at"hotmail.com] Hi! I have been looking for the best places on our land to put my 14 pairs of nest boxes. Several of the areas where I had boxes in the past have grown up in brush and trees, so are no longer ideal places for Eastern Bluebird boxes. I called a neighbor yesterday to ask if I could put a pair of boxes on their property adjoining ours, where there is a nice open area. She said sure, not a problem. They have seen my boxes in the area. I immediately went out and put them up. In the past, I have had enough room on our own land, so this is the first time I have asked others for permission to place boxes on their land. Now I will see how it goes next year, as I moved 3 other pairs of boxes also. It seems it is a constant battle to keep the competition at bay, but I am thankful for great neighbors! Mary Roen, River Falls, WI From: Bruce Burdett [mailto:blueburd"at"tds.net] Mary Beth, et al, ALL my boxes (72) are on other people's property. All these landowners have been both cooperative and appreciative. (Our own property is not good Bluebird habitat., - too wooded.) Bruce Burdett SW NH From: Paula [mailto:PaulaZ"at"columbus.rr.com] Well, I was just a bit late getting my final nestbox data pulled together. There were some interesting trends though. I am monitoring 3 trails now: South Bass Island is mowed grass at airport (no EABL, only TRES), suburban home trail which is mowed grass and quite a few trees (no TRES, EABL, CACH & HOWR), and local park which is all mowed grass with farm pond and sparse trees (both EABL and TRES). South Bass Island: TRES - 64 eggs laid, 52 birds fledged, ratio of birds fledged to eggs = 81%, # boxes occupied = 9/10 or 90% PUMA - 46 eggs laid, 35 birds fledged, ratio of birds fledged to eggs = 76% Park Trail: EABL - 36 eggs laid, 21 birds fledged, ratio of birds fledged to eggs = 58%, # boxes occupied = 5/21 or 24% TRES - 80 eggs laid, 42 birds fledged, ratio of birds fledged to eggs = 53%, # boxes occupied = 10/21 or 48% Suburbs (home): EABL - 29 eggs laid, 26 birds fledged, ratio of birds fledged to eggs = 90%, # boxes occupied = 4/6 or 67% CACH - 11 eggs laid, 4 birds fledged, ratio of birds to eggs = 36% HOWR - 10 eggs laid, 6 birds fledged My best guess as far as trends are as follows: South Bass Island had a higher success rate of TRES fledging than at park. I actually monitored this trail less frequently than park, but feel success was most likely due to abundance of TRES on island and a perceived better food supply. There was a lot of competition for the 10 boxes I installed at the island and I imagine the more aggressive, mature birds with experience were the ones using the boxes. Park Trail was monitored once per week. No pesticides or herbicides were used at park to my knowledge. Birds might benefit from a little more cover. TRES egg loss was due mostly to nonviable eggs and some competition from HOSP. EABL egg loss was due to competition from HOWR and HOSP. Nestling deaths of both were due to unknown causes (no marks on birds), but suspect possible hypothermia from wet nests (not sure). Suburban Trail has nice mix of mowed lawns and quite a few trees. Actual opening of boxes was about twice per week, but monitoring was ongoing as I was able to intercept HOSP and install HOWR guards on boxes as needed. Supplemental feeding (although really very little) was provided for one pair of EABL at my house. Any insights or questions welcome. Paula Z Powell (Central) Ohio From: Christy [mailto:ke4fej1"at"email.msn.com] Hi All, Wow! Great things have been happening down here in Florida. The New York State Bluebird Society has been working for weeks and weeks on a project to help us down here in Florida, but I did not know about it. Jerry Derry was always asking me questions of what had happening down here with our boxes because of the hurricanes. Then not so many weeks ago she said we would be having a visitor delivering some boxes. Ron and Dot Howe delivered to Winter Haven, FL 25 white pine box kits. Our Ona, FL monitor who lives in Bowling Green drove up to pick them up. John said he is very interested in the boxes and that they will help replace some of the boxes that were lost or damaged. We will also have boxes to put up in his general area. The people there have had so much damage, that we need to get the BBs around to bring happiness back to our area. Lots of natural habitat was also lost, and I fear many of the BBs. We did not have that much total damage of any of our boxes or Trail areas. John has already worked many hours at getting his boxes back in shape. Both John and I perked up a bit at the excitement of knowing boxes were coming. Until then it was pretty hard to get in the mood to work with BBs again with so much destruction still around, and people are still hurting. Then just a couple of weeks later Marsha Smith and Piers delivered another 44 fully made boxes and a bird feeder! Herman Bressler is the makers of these boxes. He has made thousands and thousands of these boxes which are all over NY, and now in Florida! They are just beautiful! Oh, it was a car load, and now a garage load of new boxes. It was so nice to have Piers and Marsha drive down from Clearwater to deliver them. Real Bluebirders! Photos at both deliveries were taken and will be displayed on both of our webs sites in the future. I also hope to get photos of the boxes when they are up. We now have boxes enough to help Ona, Bowling Green, Wauchula, Arcadia, Tampa, Wildwood a little here and there will help us all get back in shape. Since the deliveries I am getting in that Bluebird mood again. I was really really down in the dumps after the storms. Now I see a new year beginning it may be a bit slower, but then I had been running full speed. I have had two more new Monitors get trained and their boxes. Less than 3 months to the First Egg! The Myakka Livin' magazine article is due again and I will be letting them also know how the New York State Bluebird Society has helped our areas, and how they cared for us all down here. This is real Bluebirding working between the states, for the birds, and the people. Thank You so much for helping Christy's Bluebird Project get back up and going, helping our Bluebirds and especially myself... the NY Bluebird Society.... Your deserve a.... Big Bluebird Cheer!!!!!!! With Bluebird Love, Christy Sarasota, FL From: Christy [mailto:ke4fej1 "at"email.msn.com] Sent: Friday, November 26, 2004 2:21 PM Subject: South Florida Boxes Going Out... Hi All, I am still here... Keith I have to say...I loved you last post... I sure hope you are keeping all of these Messages to us...that one is priceless...put me down for a Coon next year... well actually I will donate it for someone's meal ...I am happy with my store bought baked Chicken. I wanted to let everyone know that today I finally got in touch with our Monitor in Arcadia, FL..Ken. He said that he had just put on a new roof himself right before the first of the hurricanes and he did not even lose a shingle...but as we talked he said 3 of his neighbors just had new roofs put on their homes, and all he could see were the blue plastic tarp roofs out there now. He also had been doing a lot of work in the community because there is still so much damage out there. His BB Trail road was shown on TV ..as.. the storm's eye went directly over it. He has been out to the Trail and pulled the boxes, and said he never found one at all, even thought he walked the fields. He was planning on working on them. Then I told him the news that the NY NABS had delivered boxes to us. Oh, was he excited and very pleased to have them. I am sending 15 his way. This will replace what is left of his boxes and a few more, where he will use them to extend the Trail toward the Ona Trail. I would like to think of this as a kind of Hurricane BB Memorial Trail ..to all the birds which are probably lost during these storms, and then also to show how areas, people and another state..NY came together to help the Bluebirds and the people. He said people there need some Bluebird Happiness coming their way, because there is/was so much damage. Ken in the off BB time is a Bald Eagle nest checker in DeSoto and Charlotte Counties and his son does Manatee and Sarasota. So he travels around a lot, which is fantastic for me, because he will be coming to me to pick up the boxes. As the crow flies it is only about 25 or so miles...but driving it is more like 50 to get to him. I find that things that are meant to be seem to happen, and all that needs to go with it. Things must be going as they should. I am so Thankful to the NY NABS for the box donations. They are so helpful in getting us back on track and going again. I am working 3 jobs right now, plus starting up the BB Project moving toward February, and I am also very involved getting items for a class of 60 6th graders for an acutely poor school outside of Nairobi, Kenya. They call it being the Class Mom. Both the BB Project and Class is mostly done on the computer....there just is not enough time in the day! I did not get to get involved with helping Ona individuals with their damage. It is so massive still that they are pouring hundreds of thousands into areas still and it is not enough. Plus traveling long distances is something I just can't do right now. I am Thankful for John our Wachula and Ona Monitor and Ken in Arcadia to be keeping those areas under BB control. Tampa has checked in but no more information. Wildwood, FL and Delihia's 100 box BB Trail...she is still working to get over the storms, and the losses with her family they brought. In the past two years I have moved along very fast, and I realize it is ok to slow down a bit. We are regrouping real good. Monitors slowing are contacting me, and I have not heard of any new problems. So we should be able to maintain the level where we were at, and growth in numbers of boxes will probably be slow ...and That's OK! As to posts going on now... I have to say... the $10 Wal-Mart box... there are a lot of them out there on our Trails, they were there because that is what people had bought before they knew what a really good box was. BUT... I have to admit. If the box was not made out of aromatic cedar...the design seems to be loved by our BBs !!! Those that have this cheap Wal-Mart box, those are the boxes that are used first and used over and over. I would think if the BBs knew they were bad for them they would pick the other boxes first. If they are that active and no lost of babies due to the heat... I have to say sure seems ok to use them. For those who cannot afford to buy good boxes or can make boxes. I actually recommend them over the more expensive boxes, which I see warp...or not enough drainage etc. We have a lot of them...and a lot of use... I want to complain against their use, but Christy Sarasota, FL From: Evelyn Cooper [mailto:emcooper "at"bayou.com] Sent: Monday, December 20, 2004 7:27 AM Subject: RE: Vent holes ...For any that have not read about our newest trail this is the link below. http://www.affiliates.nabluebirdsociety.org/news/affiliate_news.htm From: Keith & Sandy Kridler [mailto:txbluebirder"at"sbcglobal.net] Sent: Monday, January 24, 2005 8:45 AM Subject: Checking the bluebird trail Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant, Texas I spent Sunday afternoon checking and cleaning and repairing nestboxes on my trail. I found a half complete moss nest of either the Carolina Chickadee or Tufted Titmice and another that really looks like the start of a Carolina Wren. I was surprised to find 7 active nests of the southern flying squirrel because I skipped checking the section of road where a large colony was last fall. I cleaned out 4 nests of flying squirrels that were not being used at the moment. In one of these a male bluebird had been killed and eaten. In one of the occupied squirrel nests a freshly killed female bluebird had been killed and then eaten. One nestbox contained about a cup of acorns. Four different people came out to visit a while as I checked "their" On the first trip through in spring I try to cut down small trees or bushes near the nestboxes or trim tree limbs that have grown. Four boxes were pretty worn out and I removed them and replaced them in a slightly better location. Where bluebirds had killed Chickadees or titmice last year in wooden "bluebird" boxes I doubled up with some smaller 4" PVC nestboxes. I added about 2 nestboxes per mile and I am sure bluebirds will already be checking out the new boxes this morning.....Oh and for all you guys freezing and shoveling snow I also have Trumpet Daffodils in bloom:-))))) KK Continued in Part 2 |
BEST OF BLUEBIRD_L CLASSIFIEDS HOME | Audubon Society of Omaha | The Bluebird Box | Bluebird FAQs | Search | Contact meAll material was originally posted on the Bluebird_L or Bluebird mailing list, and has been reposted here with slight modifications to make the posts more readable in an HTML format. In cases in which quoted material has been deleted to save space, this is indicated by an ellipsis (...)For more information about Bluebird_L, check out http://www.cit.corn.edu/cit-pubs/email/using-lists/index.htm. If you wish to contact the author of a post, you will need to edit the e-mail address, replacing "at" with the "at" symbol (above the number 2 on your keyboard). (This change was made to discourage spammers.)If you are the author of a posting and would like to see a particular post (or posts) removed from these web pages, please contact me with the web page address, title of post, and date and time of the post(s), and I will remove whatever material you like. If you have a different opinion from one posted here, you need not contact me, as often I will have a different opinion too. The intent is to try and provide both sides to the issues facing bluebirders, and to do so in an impartial and objective manner.If you have problems, encounter broken links (unless they are within an e-mail thread, as I do not maintain those links), or have suggestions on how the site can be improved to make it more useful, please contact the Best of Bluebird-L Classifieds webmaster.Website design by
Chimalis
|
