|
| |
|
BETTER BLUEBIRD BOXES
I remember my first bluebird sighting. It was in Cox Hollow in Schuyler County, Illinois, about 1976.
A brilliant flash of blue against a woodland green. Every spring fellow bluebirders ask, "have you seen a bluebird yet?" Or, "are they nesting yet?" "Do you have eggs in any of your boxes?" And then later, "how many birds fledged from your boxes?" This is as serious as any subject or passion can be. Bluebirders are a group whose curiosity is bent towards a successful year, always trying new territory. Whether it be posts to hold the boxes, the color of the box, shape of the entrance hole, direction to face the box, raccoon protection, and most of all the kind of box to use, no expense is spared of time or costs; material of construction is also an important question.
Cheryl Miller has a bluebird trail at the Kankakee State Park and she uses PVC pipe painted to resemble a white birch tree. A very good idea, as woodpeckers like to use the white birch to drill holes for nests, then bluebirds use the nest sites after the woodpeckers abandon them. This is known as secondary cavity nesting by the bluebirds. Etta Aubertin swears it's the blue roof on her boxes that makes them attractive. It seems to be true as they choose that type when given the choice.
|
|
Then I read in the Wisconsin Natural Resource, April 2001 issue that boxes must be separated a good distance, about 100 yards, to be optimal. The magazine backs up these two points with careful data results proving that a hole 3.5" from the floor of the box is preferred by nesting bluebirds. I have yet to have any of my deep boxes used by bluebirds, so this sounds right to me. Also pairing boxes to give more sites to nest works against bluebirds and for species like tree swallows, their data shows. Tree swallows are aggressive and territorial, I know from my experience of being buzzed by them while checking a box they occupy. Bluebirds are no match for the swallows' aerial skills.
|
Building a box is only half the job. Maintaining a bluebird trail (a trail consists of several boxes in a general area) year after year is the real test. Setbacks always discourage a bluebirder. They take it personal when a clutch is lost to predators or weather. Lorene Benlow uses a PVC pipe size 4" over the post to stop raccoons from climbing up to the box. She decided to move one of the boxes and found two dead bluebirds on the inside of the bottom of the pipe. They got in and couldn't get out again and perished. What a disappointment! She started writing letters to other bluebirders, to the North American Bluebird Society, and to The Stokes Bluebird book, where she got the plans for the box/post setup, to warn them what could happen if the top of the pipe was left open. Bluebirds are curious, and a dark hole attracts them to go in to escape the weather or to nest.
Will Lorene keep raising bluebirds? Of course, there's no feeling like seeing that first bluebird and knowing you had a hand in preserving its existence.
by John Baxter
Audubon Society
|
|
