|
|
|
|
|
|
Hi All,
As you can see from this photo (below) I am in the
process of repairing,
painting and building new nest boxes for our
Bluebird trails that are spread
out over Buchanan County and in the Breaks Park in
Dickenson County. The
Bluebirds start building nests near the end of March
or in the early part of
April.
Last year we had 310 Eastern Bluebirds, Tree
Swallows, Carolina Chickadees and
Tufted Titmice that fledged from the 70 plus boxes
that are monitored weekly
from April through August.
David Raines monitors 26 nest boxes on two trails,
one in the Breaks Park and
the other in the Breaks community.
Joel and Josh Meade monitor 20 boxes on the trail on
Keen Mountain.
Lynda, and I monitor 28 boxes on the trail here on
Compton Mountain.
Without the work of these volunteers we could not
gather the important data
that we get each year. As count coordinator I then
compile that data and send
it on to the Virginia Bluebird Society, who then
compiles all of the data
gathered in Virginia and sends it to the National
Bluebird Society. This allows
the status of the Eastern Bluebird, a bird that was
endangered during the
1940's and 1950's, due to the lack of nesting
cavities, to be monitored.
For those who want to build their own Bluebird nest
boxes, plans can be found
at
http://www.virginiabluebirds.org/ Once
there, look on the menu on the left
and click on Nest Box and Guards.
The decorative bird houses that are sold in many
stores and shops are not built
for nesting birds. The houses are not built to the
needed dimensions, the boxes
sometimes have metal roofs, which will cook baby
birds in the hot sun, and the
boxes have no drainage or ventilation holes, which
are necessary if the young
birds are to stay cool and dry enough during hot
weather. Without drainage
holes wind driven rain can be blown into the box and
the young will either
drown or die from being wet and cold.
In the past I have used some of these decorative
houses, if they do not have
metal roofs. I change the size of the entrance hole,
drill holes for
ventilation on both sides of the house near the roof
and drill drainage holes
in the floor. Unfortunately, most of these
decorative houses do not open for
cleaning out old nests or removing young birds that
sometimes die before
leaving the nest. All of the nest boxes in this
photo open on one side for easy
cleaning.
Roger Mayhorn
Compton Mt
|
|
|
