Volunteering to monitor nest boxes
In any year, we need a few people who want to take responsibility for a trail. We also welcome people who would like to learn a trail and serve as a substitute. This experience might lead to covering a trail the following year. You may inquire about the program through this email link. The monitoring season begins is April, so March and April are good times to inquire.Volunteers generally find it fascinating to follow nesting progress from building nests through laying eggs, hatching young, and fledging the chicks. The nesting areas change from one week to the next as different wildflowers bud and mature and grasses grow tall. The season runs from late April through most of July. Occasionally, there is a late nest where the young fledge in early August.
The big picture
The transcontinental bluebird nest box program is one of the most successful efforts ever undertaken to reverse a species decline. The North American Bluebird Society Web site describes the transcontinental program and gives some of its history. Thousands of nestboxes are monitored each year all over the country. The data collected are sent to the Cornell Ornithological Laboratory at the end of each season to contribute to scientific studies of population trends and other information about cavity nesting birds. The Cornell lab has several Web pages regarding The Birdhouse Network. One particularly interesting page describes reasons for and uses of monitoring. Recording data for submission to this database is an important goal of our monitoring effort.
What is a nestbox trail?
A nestbox trail is not a developed trail; it’s simply a route that connects a number of boxes. Typically, most of the route is off of official, established trails. Monitoring a typical trail involves a couple of miles of hiking, most of it on grassy surface, with some hills. It’s open-space grass, of course, so it gets taller during the monitoring season.
Basic monitoring responsibilities
We monitor once a week. Of course, life events or bad weather may force deviations from that schedule. The primary goals of the monitoring are to establish the dates of the significant events in nesting: the first egg in a clutch, chicks hatching, and fledging. In addition, it is sometimes possible to fix a problem and avoid a nest failure. Where there are failures, it is useful to analyze the reasons and attempt to determine if some change will make success more likely the following year.
In addition to people who take responsibility for a trail, we also need a few substitutes to cover when the regulars are away.
What monitors do
Monitoring consists of checking the nest status of each box and recording the data on a form. Weekly data for each box are then grouped on a spreadsheet page or paper form to facilitate entry into the Cornell database at the end of the season. The spreadsheets are the basis for the summaries shown on the main bluebird page.
Although one person can monitor a trail, most monitors prefer to operate in pairs. An extra pair of eyes often means spotting a bird or animal that a single monitor might miss. This can be particularly useful when it's uncertain which bluebird species has built a nest and laid eggs. The routes are off trail, so the extra person provides a measure of safety as well as companionship.
New volunteers will be given a tour of their trail. The coordinators provide training. We maintain an email list for people to share results during the season and request substitutes when needed.
A Website for volunteers provides a source for monitoring forms, instructions, pre-formatted spreadsheets, and other information. GPS coordinates of boxes and Google Earth images with box locations indicated are available from a restricted area of the website for active monitors.
Check the links mentioned above and The Bluebird Box at Audubon-Omaha for more about box construction and monitoring.