Bluebird Trail

2012 Nesting Season Report

The volunteer monitors checked on 66 boxes, and backyard birders checked 25 boxes this season for a total of 91 boxes monitored this year. Of the 91 boxes monitored, 68 boxes had activity (or an attempt – defined as nest building activity or more). Three boxes had successful Western Bluebird double clutches: N 19 and S 13 at Indian Hill, and one of Jennifer’s backyard boxes.

There were six species nesting in the boxes, Western Bluebird topping the list with 62 “tries” or attempts, resulting in 265 eggs, 228 young, and 191 fledglings. This ranks as the third largest number of Western Bluebird fledglings out of the 13 nesting seasons of monitoring, just edging out the last two years 2011 and 2010 with 187 and 183 fledglings respectively.

One of Mary’s backyard boxes produced a successful nest attempt of White-breasted Nuthatches. The first for our records!

Congratulations on a very successful nest box monitoring season!!! I’m sure the birds would thank us if they could.

If you are interested in being a monitor next year, or want to monitor a box in your yard, please contact me! It's fun!

Thank you all!
Karen Pestana, Bluebird Trail Chairman

Background Info

Bluebird Trail MonitorsIn many parts of the country bluebird numbers have decreased dramatically due to competition for nesting cavities with the European Starling, an aggressive non-native species. Each year local volunteers maintain and monitor a "trail" of nest boxes. During the mating and nesting season (February through July) we monitor the nest building, egg laying and fledging of the young Western Bluebirds. Records are forwarded to the North American Bluebird Society.

Anybody wishing to install a bluebird-nesting box on their property, or those who would like to join the bluebird trail monitoring teams, please e-mail Karen Pestana, Bluebird-One, or call 821-6477.

IMPORTANT DOWNLOADS:
How to build a proper nestbox
Nest box placement
How to monitor nestboxes
Monitoring worksheet from Cornell NestWatch (this link will download the NestWatch Datasheet PDF)

TMBC Bluebird Trail Statistics

Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
# boxes 34 41 44 63 56 68 73 70 70 76 59 79 91
Western Bluebird tries 14 16 43 43 42 51 67 50 72 69 61 79 62
eggs 59 56 205 144 198 223 332 228 303 349 286 364 265
hatch 51 42 151 137 159 205 293 144 245 287 204 279 228
fledge 47 38 128 135 146 180 265 101 175 243 183 187 191
Tree Swallow tries 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
eggs 2 0 5 4 6 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
hatch 0 0 5 3 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
fledge 0 0 5 3 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
Violet-green Swallow tries 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
eggs 0 9 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0
hatch 0 9 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0
fledge 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0
Ash-throated Flycatcher tries 0 3 4 2 2 3 2 3 4 1 1 1 5
eggs 0 13 17 7 10 13 10 11 17 5 5 4 18
hatch 0 12 14 6 9 13 8 11 11 4 5 2 13
fledge 0 12 12 6 9 13 8 11 5 4 1 2 12
Oak Titmouse tries 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 1 0 1 1
eggs 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 5 7 7 0 6 6
hatch 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 5 7 7 0 5 5
fledge 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 5 7 7 0 5 5
Mountain Chickadee tries 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
eggs 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 0
hatch 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0
fledge 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0
House Wren tries 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
eggs 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
hatch 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
fledge 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
White-breasted Nuthatch tries 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1
eggs 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 2
hatch 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 2
fledge 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 2
House Finch tries 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2
eggs 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 0
hatch 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0
fledge 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0
House Sparrow tries 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 3 3 0 0
eggs 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 6 6 0 0
hatch 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 2 0 0
fledge 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 2 0 0
European Starling tries 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
eggs 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0
hatch 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0
fledge 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0
Last Updated on Saturday, 13 October 2012 08:24