[Bluebird-babble] Mountain Bluebirds--western Fremont Cty

[Allan Reishus]

Tina
Good to hear the enthusiasm from a fellow volunteer "bluebirder".  I have been adding boxes each year and now have 80, the oldest having been up 10 years.  
I am in the Craig area in NW Colorado and have exclusively mountain bluebirds.  Anyway, to answer your questions, I have found bluebirds to be remarkable tolerate of human activity around their nests if the activity is brief, eg, 5 minutes or so.  You will not scare off birds exploring nests and certainly will not scare them off while they have eggs or young.  You can handle the eggs and young (gently) and just replace them into the nest.  Many times I have backed off a dozen yards and seen an adult go immediately to the nest, seeming the doting parent (now I am anthropomorphizing). 
I start checking boxes weekly (well, OK, I might not make it to every nest every week) when I think the first pairs are starting to lay.  Here that is usually early April.  
I get tree swallows and house wrens in some nests and they, too, are very bonded to their nest box.  English sparrows are really bonded, so much so that removing a nest will almost certainly cause the adults to place a new nest in a day or two.
It is a joy and sometime a sorrow to open each box weekly.  Dead bluebirds should be removed as should English sparrows.  Your call on house wrens and other birds.   
I will be at the Audubon Society bluebird day Saturday.  Any chance we might chat there?
Allan Reishus
Craig CO
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Christina.Mitchell at UCHSC.edu 
  To: bluebird-babble at denveraudubon.org 
  Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 6:52 PM
  Subject: [Bluebird-babble] Mountain Bluebirds--western Fremont Cty


  Greetings, bluebird fans--

  We have our typical early pair of Mountain Bluebirds that appeared on Sunday here in Coaldale.  (The remaining 2 or 3 pairs that we get usually don't come until mid-April.)  We have seen them both enter at least one box but without any nesting material--trying it on for size, I guess.  We have about 40 acres and over 100 nestboxes, which we're going to try to monitor as best we can.  We've never monitored the boxes during the breeding season--just cleaned them out in the Fall and had great fun guessing what species nested where.  (Easiest to discern--Ash-throated Flycatcher.  Amazingly messy nest and always--at least so far--with some cow/horse manure or dog poop in the nest.  All the better to catch flies, perhaps...)  

  But I digress.  Since we're going to try to monitor during the nesting season, how do you know when to start checking?  I would imagine that once the nest has eggs, the parents aren't likely to be permanently scared off by such odd human behavior.  But what about when they're still checking out boxes?  Would such activity interfere with their selection activities?  Am I totally anthropomorphizing?  This question pertains to our other cavity nesters as well--Mountain Chickadee, Juniper Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Violet-green Swallow.  Any thoughts or advice would be great.  Thanks!

  Tina Mitchell
  Coaldale, CO (~7200' in pinyon/juniper habitat, about 1 mile as the bluebird flies from the Arkansas River, in the rain shadow of the northern Sangres)
  Christina.Mitchell at UCHSC.edu 



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