We need volunteers for monitoring nest boxes

For the past three years, BCAS has provided an enthusiastic crew of volunteers to monitor nest boxes at Walker Ranch for Boulder County Parks and Open Space. In 2007, we added monitoring responsibility for a trail of boxes at the Betasso Preserve and installed a short trail at Shanahan Ridge. There have been discussions about adding one to three more trails for 2008, though plans are still indefinite. Even if no new trails are added, it is likely we will need some new volunteers. You can let us know of your interest through this email link.

Volunteers generally find it fascinating to follow nesting progress from building nests through laying eggs, hatching young, and fledging the chicks. 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.

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 urge people to try to monitor once a week. Of course, personal conflicts or bad weather may force deviations from the schedule. The primary goals of the monitoring are to establish the dates of the significant events in nesting: the number of eggs, chicks, and fledglings. 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 are willing to take responsibility for a trail, we also need a few people who can act a substitutes, for example when the regulars take a vacation.

What monitors do

Monitoring consists of checking the nest status of each box and recording the data on a field data sheet. The data are then entered into a spreadsheet with one page for each box. The spreadsheets are forwarded to the coordinators and to the open space technicians for transmission to the Cornell database. The spreadsheets are the basis for the summaries shown on the main bluebird page.

Although one person can perform all the necessary monitoring tasks on a trail, it is preferable to operate in pairs. The routes are off trail, so the extra person provides a measure of safety as well as companionship.

We will have an introduction in late April that with instructions for new monitors, suggested equipment, and blank field data sheets. We will email spreadsheets set up to record the data. New volunteers will be given a tour of their trail. In addition, GPS coordinates of all boxes will be made available. We maintain an email list for people to share results during the season and request substitutes when needed.

Check the links mentioned above and The Bluebird Box at Audubon-Omaha for more about box construction and monitoring.