Bluebird Nest Box Trail
Dave Misterek, Trail Monitor
Photo courtesy of Patrick Ready.
For those of you who are not familiar with this effort, a brief background summary is in order. This bluebird trail is sponsored by Winnebago Audubon and the Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin (BRAW). Following guidelines of BRAW, we monitor the trail weekly and report the results to BRAW annually when nesting is complete. We initiated this trail several years ago at Utica Golf Club with the approval of the golf club owner, Greg Johnson and his wife Christine. I wish to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to them for the support that they and their grounds keeping staff give us in providing a safe environment for the bluebird houses. We have found Utica Golf Club to be a great option to attract bluebirds and other native cavity nesting songbirds who depend on bird houses for safe nesting sites. Without the assistance of native bird enthusiasts who install and monitor bluebird houses on appropriate habitat, these beautiful birds would be dependent on natural tree cavities for nest sites. Unfortunately, natural cavities are declining due to changing land uses and deadly competition from aggressive non-native birds such as starlings and house sparrows (English sparrows). The semi-open grass habitat found at golf courses provides ample volumes of insect larva and insects for bluebirds to eat and feed their young.
For those of you who may be interested in placing one or more bluebird houses in your back yard or other appropriate habitat, we strongly encourage you to do so to promote bluebirds and other cavity nesting native song birds. I advise you to follow the guidelines provided by BRAW at www.braw.org. This guidance includes birdhouse plans, birdhouse placement and monitoring recommendations. Please also consider joining BRAW to receive additional guidance in promoting this important songbird. So, for now, so long and good luck in your bluebird monitoring experience. We hope to report to you again next year.
2023 Summary of the Bluebird Nest Box Trail
I am glad to report on another year of successful bluebird monitoring during 2023 at Utica Golf Club. Unfortunately, my wife Christine passed away a year ago so I have received help from my friend Zaiga Freivalds and three of my grandchildren: McKenzie, Ella and Ben, in conducting the weekly bluebird monitoring.
Last year we were able to increase the number of bird houses at Utica to 38. Three additional houses are located in my yard and two more at my daughter Jennifer and her husband Mark’s property. This bluebird trail may also be called a bluebird/tree swallow trail because of the large number of tree swallows that are found in eastern Wisconsin and the favorable birdhouse nest boxes provided for them on our trail. The competition between bluebirds and tree swallows for nest sites is a friendly one as the two species do not harm one another. Both are beautiful songbirds that are important members of our environment. This year we have continued with the experiment of placing some birdhouses in pairs 20 feet apart to see if bluebirds and tree swallows will nest close to each other. At times they do, and it increases the total production of both species. We installed 13 pairs of bluebird houses and found that several pairs of houses did produce successful bluebird and tree swallow nests at the same time. Male bluebirds seem to accept the presence of tree swallows in their nest territory even though they do not allow other bluebirds to nest within their territory. This year, we intend to continue our experiment with paired bird houses to further explore this alternative.
Last year we again enjoyed watching and recording the nesting success of these wonderful songbirds. We have kept a record of the nesting activity and can happily report that our total results last year includes the production of 87 bluebirds, 139 tree swallows and 6 house wrens. There are usually more tree swallows produced simply because the population of tree swallows in Winnebago County is greater than that of bluebirds. The overall nesting success was greater this year than last year due to the greater number of bird houses and more favorable weather than we had two years ago. We are always glad to see the continued success of tree swallow nesting even though we place our emphasis on bluebirds. Tree swallows are beautiful native birds that have a tremendous positive impact by helping to keep a natural control on nuisance insect species such as mosquitos. They do not compete with bluebirds for food supplies and therefore do not seem to harm bluebird production. We reported this successful production to BRAW. They in turn accumulate this data from other bluebird monitors statewide and are able to announce at a later date a total production for the entire state. As a result, Wisconsin is always among the top producers of bluebirds in the US.
With the use of predator guards and 3/4 inch metal conduit posts we are able to reduce most raccoon and other mammal predation. This year we noted almost no loss of bird eggs or young due to these predators. We do have a few houses that were initially occupied by house sparrows that are present at nearby farms. These non-native birds are a main predator of bluebirds and are known to kill adult and young bluebirds and tree swallows on their nests. Fortunately, we are able to control these predators by placing bird houses far from farm buildings and by using VanErt sparrow traps placed in the bluebird house entrance hole.