[Bluebird-babble] 2007 nestbox summary

Tue Aug 14 18:02:24 EDT 2007

Hi, Cheryl--

As a person new this year to active monitoring, I can highly recommend it (assuming that your nestboxes have either a side or the front panel that opens up so you can access the nest without disturbing it).  I was able to gather lots of important data and I had great fun watching all of the progress.  I too was quite wary of intruding, but Kevin sent me to the Cornell Birdhouse Network website, which has lots of good info about monitoring.  Check out all aspects of the web site (http://www.birds.cornell.edu/birdhouse/); but some of the best info about how to monitor and useful tools can be found at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/birdhouse/instructions/monitor.  I heartily recommend the extending "mechanic's mirror"--it was invaluable in looking into the nest to count eggs or nestlings.  I think it cost around $5 at a car parts store.

Of the 7 species that nested in our area, I found that the bluebirds (both Western and Mountain) seemed the least freaked by my presence.  The parents, when they were in the area, often sort of dive-bombed me a bit--but they did no harm and I checked the kids as quickly as possible and moved well out of the area to make my notes.  Parents of most other species flew quite a ways off if I disturbed them (say, an adult was in the box when I first tapped on it).  But they always returned, as evidenced by the fact that no entire box of nestlings starved because the parent didn't return.  (That probably sounds silly to experienced monitors, but it was a fear I had.)  On a few occasions, the parent on the nest didn't even leave the box when I opened it; in those cases, I just shut it quickly and didn't bother her (mostly moms) any further that time.  (That happened primarily early in the season, when the weather was considerably colder and keeping eggs/hatchlings warm was probably more important than later in the season.)  The parents have a lot invested in their kids; it takes quite a bit to run them off permanently.

You don't need to only put boxes along the road.  In fact, none of our boxes is along our driveway; we just kind of scattered them around our property.  If you put them in a decent habitat (which might differ a bit depending on whether you have Mountain or Western Bluebirds), they will find them!  The Birdhouse Network has some info about that too:  http://www.birds.cornell.edu/birdhouse/instructions/placement/document_view.  If you mount them, they will come!

If you have any further questions, I'd be happy to try to answer them--either on the list or you can e-mail me directly.  I'm a new convert and I'm happy to try to "convert" others!

Tina Mitchell
Christina.Mitchell at UCHSC.edu

________________________________

From: bluebird-babble-bounces at denveraudubon.org on behalf of Cheryl
Sent: Tue 8/14/2007 3:27 PM
To: 'Listserv of the Colorado Bluebird Project'
Subject: Re: [Bluebird-babble] 2007 nestbox summary

We have 14 acres between Hartsel and Buena Vista and I purchased two blue bird boxes to put out this year along the entry to our land. That's how I ended up on the mailing list. We had blue bird nests in both boxes and the birds were flying in and out with food so I can only assume there were babies in there but I was afraid to open the box and disturb them. Can someone please give me some basic information as to what the birds will "allow" you to do? I'd love to look in next year and see the eggs, babies, etc. Also, I'd like to put out more boxes but I always thought they should be along the road since that's where we see the blue birds all the time. Is it worthwhile to put boxes in other spots? Thanks for any info...

Cheryl Earnest

________________________________

From: bluebird-babble-bounces at denveraudubon.org [mailto:bluebird-babble-bounces at denveraudubon.org] On Behalf Of Christina.Mitchell at UCHSC.edu
Sent: Monday, August 13, 2007 5:05 PM
To: Bluebird-Babble at denveraudubon.org
Subject: [Bluebird-babble] 2007 nestbox summary

Hi, all--

Sadly, but inevitably, our breeding season has come to an end.  We have 71 nestboxes on 39+ acres in central Colorado--pinyon/juniper/scrub oak habitat at about 7200' in the rain shadow (eastern flank) of the northern Sangres. We've had nestboxes up for 7 years, but this is the first year I've monitored them during the breeding season.  (In the past, we've simply cleaned out the boxes at the end of the season and guessed at what might have used them.)  This summer, we had 7 different species using the nestboxes; 23 boxes were used by birds (and lots by mice and chipmunks) and 2 boxes by 2 different species (Violet-green Swallows moved in right after White-breasted Nuthatches fledged).  The big species surprise was one pair of Western Bluebirds; we've never had them summer in our habitat before.  

Here's the summary.  

Mountain Bluebird:  26 eggs; 14 fledged; 53.8% success. (We had 2 very late nests--total of 10 eggs--that never hatched and probably never had a chance.  If I adjust for those, the rate was 87.5%.  I like that better, although 53.8% is better science.) 

Western Bluebird:  6 eggs; 6 fledged; 100%  

Non-bluebird species-

White-breasted Nuthatch:  14 eggs; 14 fledged; 100% 

Violet-green Swallow:  37 eggs; 29 fledged; 78.4% 

Mountain Chickadee:  18 eggs; 18 fledged; 100% 

Juniper Titmouse:  11 eggs; 5 fledged; 45.5% 

Ash-throated Flycatcher:  9 eggs; 8 fledged; 88.9% 

Total:  121 eggs; 94 fledged; 77.7%  

The juniper titmice either were the unluckiest or made the worst choices.  Only 1 of 3 nests raised any young at all; eggs were removed early on by some critter (snake? chipmunk?) in the other 2.  The Violet-green Swallows had the highest (and only, actually) mortality among the nestlings--5 dead in 2 boxes, no apparent sign of predators, unknown cause of death.  

It was a very fun undertaking.  We have 30 more nestboxes that were unmonitorable this year (placed too high or built so that the bottom opened--great for cleaning, but not for monitoring). My husband's going to reposition or and/or revamp those over the winter, so I'll have even more next year.  Thanks to Kevin and the CBP for providing the encouragement and support to get me motivated to give it a try!

Tina Mitchell

Coaldale, CO

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