Results from Bluebirders (Part
1)
Subj: Nest Losses
Date: 9/4/99 9:50:19 PM Central Daylight Time
From: Sialiaman"at"aol.com
Sender: owner-BLUEBIRD-L"at"cornell.edu
Reply-to: Sialiaman"at"aol.com
To: BLUEBIRD-L"at"cornell.edu
Dick Purvis, Anaheim CA
I have finally added up my totals and find that there were 430
western bluebird nests which fledged 1318 young. A nest is defined
as having at least one egg. Seventy five or 17.4% of the nests
failed to fledge any young. The reasons for these failures were
an eye opener for me. Most of the failures were due to
the bluebirds themselves (52) and a real surprise to me was
that they abandoned 16 nests of young! In spite of a heavy house
sparrow infestation (35 nests), only 8 bluebird nests were lost
because of sparrows.
Here is a listing of the failed nests:
Abandoned eggs, 26 nests
Abandoned young, 16 nests
Infertile eggs, 10 nests
Human interference, 6 nests
House sparrows, 7 nests of young
House sparrows, 1 nest of eggs
Rats, 2 nests of eggs
Rats 1 nest of young
House wren, 1 nest of young
Raccoon, 1 nest of eggs
Weasel, 1 nest of eggs
European starling, 1 nest of young
Dead adult bluebird, lost 2 nests of young
In addition to the total abandonment of many nests of eggs and
young, the bluebirds also did a really poor job of nurturing
the young. Early in the season when we had an unusually cold
spring they would often fledge only one or two chicks and leave
several dead ones. My final results were 3.1 fledglings per
nest. In the past, fledglings per nest has been about 3.7. The
effect of house sparrows may be worse than these numbers show.
I had 35 sparrow nests and in most instances I took the nestbox
down. This probably deprived many bluebirds of any nesting opportunity.
Next year I hope to make the time to do some trapping and maybe
retrieve some good bluebird locations.
Subj:
bb count
Date: 9/14/99 4:18:15 PM Central Daylight Time
From: cas"at"superior.net (Chickie Smith)
Sender: owner-BLUEBIRD-L"at"cornell.edu
Reply-to: cas"at"superior.net
To: BLUEBIRD-L"at"cornell.edu (bluebird)
Hi,
Here it is the first annual unofficial, official backyard bluebird
count. I heard from bluebird lovers from 19 states and I think
from Canada, too.
Nice work and congratulations to all backyard birders.WOW! What
a contribution you made.!!!!
Here are the results!
*** 579 bluebirds fledged(includes eastern bluebirds, mountain
bluebirds, and western bluebirds)
29 bluebirds killed by predators or heat
20 eggs unhatched(infertile)
other cavitiy nesters-fledged
23 wrens
8 blackcapped chickadees
16 carolina chickadees
66 tree swallows
3 ash-throated flycatchers
9 tufted titmouse
12 oak titmouse
Aren't these results amazing? I sure think so! Again congratulations
and thanks for sending me your totals. I will gladly do this again
next year if you want me to. I really enjoyed hearing from all
of you.
Chickie Smith
Fonda, New York
Subj: RE: Backyard BB count
Date: 9/15/99 7:30:49 AM Central Daylight Time
From: kridler"at"1Starnet.com (Keith & Sandy Kridler)
Sender: owner-BLUEBIRD-L"at"cornell.edu
Reply-to: kridler"at"1Starnet.com (Keith & Sandy Kridler)
To: BLUEBIRD-L"at"cornell.edu (BLUEBIRD-L)
Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant, Texas
Great job on the count!!!! These are the numbers that are to be
expected I think from those who can keep a close eye on their
boxes. I have always said I would rather have 1,000 people with
one box than a single person checking 1,000 boxes...We have just
had the discussion of the stiff Competition from tree swallows
and many responded that "on the trail", swallows will
swamp a non paired nestbox trail using all available boxes. I
am sure that many of those reporting didn't have swallows but
would bet that few had less than two nestboxes! When bluebirds
out raise swallows and house wrens about 10 to 1 then maybe more
backyard birders should be employed in areas than installing trails
in "ideal" habitat. This is another reason to give boxes
to more people this winter and stop and visit with those feeding
birds to educate them about foods and sparrows and bluebird problems.
You can start with friends but don't forget neighbors since a
child next door with a BB gun or just wanting some pretty blue
eggs can create havoc... You must plan on stopping in at least
once every three weeks for the next couple of years to "help
out" and get them hooked and checking correctly. Don't be
afraid to just stop and visit with people with feeders or nestboxes.
These are normally people very interested in wildlife, birds and
are normally very caring people worried about the environment
also.. Thanks again to Chickie!!! best regards Keith K
Subj: Birdhouse Online
Date: 9/16/99 5:32:04 AM Central Daylight Time
From: dsheldonjr"at"hotmail.com (dean sheldon)
Sender: owner-BLUEBIRD-L"at"cornell.edu
Reply-to: dsheldonjr"at"hotmail.com
To: BLUEBIRD-L"at"cornell.edu
Any of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology programs can be accessed
through the CLO Webpage and that is where
you'll find Birdhouse Online and instructions for submitting nest
box data for the past season.
Dean Sheldon
Subj: Fwd: Bluebird Project Results
Date: 1/29/00 10:49:09 AM Central Standard Time
From: OCMossBack"at"aol.com
Sender: owner-BLUEBIRD-L"at"cornell.edu
Reply-to: OCMossBack"at"aol.com
To: BLUEBIRD-L"at"cornell.edu
Thought these numbers might be of interest so I'm forwarding them
to the list.
Sam Pointer
Oregon City, OR
--------------------
The Prescott Bluebird Recovery Project has been banding western
bluebirds
since 1988. Here are our banding and nesting results:
Bluebirds Banded From 1988 to 1999
Year Number Banded % Change
1988 108
1989 30 -72%
1990 109 263%
1991 128 17%
1992 283 121%
1993 268 -5%
1994 393 47%
1995 519 32%
1996 655 26%
1997 992 51%
1998 1292 30%
1999 1403 9%
Total 6180
PBRP Birds Fledged in 1997, 1998 and 1999
Species 1997 1998 1999
Western Bluebirds 972 1045 1159
Violet-green Swallow 700 991 1022
Tree Swallow 452 570 657
House Wren 92 172 66
Black-capped Chickadee 47 76 39
White-breasted Nut 12 18 0
Chestnut-backed Chickadee 0 10 8
Bewick's Wren 5 7 0
Red-breasted Nuthatch 0 4 0
Total 2280 2893 2951
Marilynne T. Keyser
32420 Armitage Rd.
Wilsonville, OR 97070
(503) 694-2738
Subj: Re: Bluebird Project
Date: 1/29/00 12:58:06 PM Central Standard Time
From: kridler"at"1starnet.com (Keith & Sandy Kridler)
Sender: owner-BLUEBIRD-L"at"cornell.edu
Reply-to: kridler"at"1starnet.com
To: BLUEBIRD-L"at"cornell.edu (BLUEBIRD-L)
Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant, Texas
Congratulations M. Keyser! The Oregon group shows a steady increase.
Very impressive on banding that many birds. I did notice that
for the last three years you banded more than the number fledged
in each year. Do they band that many adults also each year? Or
do they lose that many young between banding and fledging age.
KK
Subj: Re: Bluebird Project
Date: 1/30/00 10:27:05 PM Central Standard Time
From: OCMossBack"at"aol.com
Sender: owner-BLUEBIRD-L"at"cornell.edu
Reply-to: OCMossBack"at"aol.com
To: kridler"at"1starnet.com
CC: BLUEBIRD-L"at"cornell.edu
Keith
Spoke to our head bander, and yes the difference in number of
young banded and number fledge is due to nest box mortally.We
get some bad spring weather here in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.
First we get a stretch of sunny weather that brings the insects
out and starts the birds nesting. Then we can get some real nasty
wet, cold and windy weather that depletes the food supply and
can make the tightest made nest box damp inside. Last year we
had a problem with a type of hookworm that the adult BB got from
eating Sow bugs (you might call them pill bugs) they are a desperation
food when nothing else can be found. Those of us who can feed
meal worms (Our rule is to put out mealworms only after the first
egg is laid) but not everyone can do it daily.Our second nesting
are more successful but we don't have as many seconds as other
areas do judging from what I read on this list.
Sam Pointer
Oregon City, Oregon
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 22:29:19 -0500
From: "Bob Walshaw" robert.walshaw"at"gte.net
To: "Bluebird Listserve" BLUEBIRD-L"at"cornell.edu
Subject: DM Trail Report
6.35 birds per box fledged from your 125 box trail. This is
excellent. I still have a number of active Eastern Bluebird
nests but a rough estimate at this time will be about 4.5 to
5.0 per box. My average is held down a bit as I deliberately
put a number of boxes out for Carolina Chickadees and Tufted
Titmice where only one brood is fledged each year. CONGRATULATIONS!
Bluebird Bob.
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