[Bluebird-babble] NABS 2006 Convention

[CBPKevin@aol.com]

I just returned home from the NABS convention in San Antonio, Texas.  They 
had about 200 attendees from around the U.S. and Canada.  Most of these folks 
know a lot more about bluebirds and their management than I do, so it was a 
continuous learning experience for me.  I attended seminars on the history of 
bluebirds & bluebirding, bluebirds in Texas (they get 4 broods per year in some 
places!), the use of heat shields on boxes, using GPS to map trails, bluebird 
education for children, setting up nestboxes in suburban areas, and probably 
more that I'm not remembering at the moment.  

The session on heat shields was of particular interest to me, because when 
in-box temperatures exceed 105 degrees the eggs or young nestlings are at high 
risk.  Experimentation has shown that the 'standard NABS nestbox' performs 
poorly in high temperatures because it has inadequate ventilation to avoid 
overheating and temperatures inside the box sometimes exceeded ambient temperatures 
by 15 degrees or more.  Thus on a 95-degree day the box could reach ~ 110 
degrees, which is above the safe temperature threshold.  A simple remedy for any 
nest box can be made by adding a second wall layer to the roof and south & 
west-facing walls, with the second wall separated from the box wall by a 1/2-inch 
air space.

There were also many opportunites to exchange information with fellow 
bluebirders from all over the country.  We're lucky we don't have opossums, fire 
ants, rat snakes, any many other predators and problems that affect nestboxes in 
other parts of the country.

The NABS folks are already planning their next convention in Georgia in 2007. 
 If you're not already a member you might want to consider joining them and 
attending it.  If it's half as good as this one was it'll be well worth the 
time and money!

Kevin Corwin
Centennial, CO
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://denveraudubon.org/pipermail/bluebird-babble_denveraudubon.org/attachments/20060501/5eb9ac3a/attachment.html