The Nestbox
Issue 37
Fall-Winter 2013
The Newsletter of the Southern Interior Bluebird Trail Society
"Creating nesting habitat for native cavity-nesting birds"
Photo by
Mark Van Wyk
Southern Interior Bluebird Trail Society
Box 494, Oliver, BC V0H 1T0
www.bcbluebirds.org
info@bcbluebirds.org
2012-2013 Board of Directors
PRESIDENT
Bob Bogula, Logan Lake
bbogula@telus.net 250-523-9696
From the President's Perch
by Bob Bogula
F
irst off greetings and
a big thank you to all
of you who helped SIBTS
carry on this past year. Our
organization would not exist without you.
2013 was another great year for SIBTS with
early indications of many successful fledglings
of bluebirds.
SECRETARY -TREASURER
Loekie van der Wal, Logan Lake
lvander@sfu.ca
250-523-9706
This was the second year of research done at
Highland Valley Copper and the Logan Lake area
by Russ Dawson and Erin O'Brien of UNBC.
VICE PRESIDENT
Ray Town, Logan Lake
gayle_ray@telus.net
250-523-9474
DIRECTORS
Lee Chic, Osoyoos
lchic@telus.net 250-495-6617
Lee McFayden, Cawston
mariposaorgf@hotmail.com
250-499-5404
Sandy Proulx, Williams Lake
sproulx@shaw.ca
250-392-4412
Harold Sellers, Vernon
hikerharold@gmail.com
250-503-2388
This year’s AGM was very well attended, with
monitors traveling from as far away as Trail, BC.
The meeting ended with a round table discussion
by several monitors, of interesting experiences
on their trails. The meeting was followed by
an interesting and informative presentation by
Erin and Russ of the first year's results of their
research program, interspersed by many great
questions.
As in past years, I urge all monitors to start
thinking about recruiting more monitors for next
year.
May the upcoming holiday season see all of you
in good health. ❖
PAST PRESIDENT
Sherry Linn, Osoyoos
goldstrm@vip.net
250-495-7891
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
The Nestbox...
is published twice each year, in SpringSummer and Fall-Winter editions.
Editor:
Harold Sellers, Vernon
hikerharold@gmail.com 250-503-2388
Page 2
The Nestbox
2014 AGM
Saturday,
September 27th
Osoyoos
Fall-Winter 2013
Trail Profile
of Bruce and Marilyn Butcher
O
ur blue bird trail is within the Tunkwa
Lake Provincial Park, about 20 minutes
north of Logan Lake BC. http://www.env.gov.
bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/tunkwa/tunkwa_
brochure.pdf
We bought and set up the
boxes with the help of some
expert Blue Birders from
Logan Lake. My mother,
Beverly Butcher from Williams
Lake, has been looking after
hundreds of nest boxes for
years; she inspired us to
have a few boxes to monitor
at our seasonal rustic cabin
at Leighton Lake (beside
Tunkwa Lake). This area is
awesome habitat for the blue
birds and tree swallows as
it is mostly open grassland
meadows.
areas and were thrilled to see all four boxes
were successful!! As expected, two contained
broods of tree swallows and two were inhabited
by MOBL.
We still had more lessons to learn, though.
One of the boxes we relocated was attached
to a beetle-killed pine tree; the tree fell during
a windstorm, taking a nest with
4 MOBL eggs with it. We have
now attached that box to a sturdy
fir tree which we hope will be
used next year -- possibly by
the same pair of bluebirds? We
have relocated yet another box
into open territory and hope it
will be inhabited in 2014.
We check on the boxes
whenever we visit the cabin
throughout the spring, summer
and fall, and cleaned them out
this past thanksgiving weekend
in anticipation of the new
season.
We installed six boxes early 2012, but had pretty
dismal results the first year as the boxes were
placed close to our cabin rather than in the open
rangeland the birds prefer. The following year,
we moved four of the six boxes out into open
Our trail is enjoyable to monitor and cabin visitors
and neighbours are always delighted to get a
peek inside the boxes. ❖
Fall-Winter 2013
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Page 3
Bluebird Twins
outside of a laboratory are scarce because
double-embryo eggs are rare to begin with–
fewer than half of one percent of waterfowl
eggs in one study contained twins. It is even
rarer for both chicks to survive hatching.
Typically, before hatching, one embryo may
out-compete the other, or both embryos may
die due to insufficient oxygen and/or space. A
large study of 208 double-yolked chicken eggs
only resulted in 1 egg that hatched into twin
chicks. Twin chicks apparently have a very
difficult time pipping the eggshell.
Rare Bluebird Twins Spark Interest
NestWatch eNewsletter
July 2013
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Above: Eastern Bluebird nest with three
normal eggs and one large egg (bottom right)
containing twins. Photo by Gerald Clark.
E
arlier this month [July-editor], we received
a report of an anomaly in an Eastern
Bluebird nest in State College, Pennsylvania.
The nest contained three normal-sized eggs
and one large egg. The large egg contained
two fertilized embryos, or twins! The four eggs
hatched on July 1, resulting in five nestlings.
The twins did not grow as quickly as their three
siblings and were always noticeably smaller.
Unfortunately, these 2 smaller nestlings died
after 11 days, perhaps because the adult male
bluebird went missing at some point. The female
likely had a hard time feeding all five babies on
her own, and the two smaller nestlings may not
have been able to obtain as much food as their
larger siblings. The three surviving nestlings
are doing well at the time of this writing.
Twinning has been observed in other species
of wild birds, including American Goldfinch,
Peregrine Falcon, Gadwall, Mallard, and Song
Sparrow, as well as in domestic chickens.
Opportunities to observe this rare occurrence
Page 4
Twins can form from eggs with double yolks
(i.e., fraternal twins), or from eggs with one
yolk and two embryos (i.e., identical twins).
We don't know which was the case for these
bluebird twins, but we do know that for them
to have hatched and lived for 11 days is a very
rare phenomenon, indeed! We thank Gerald
Clark, owner of the nest box in question, and
NestWatcher Harry Schmeider for bringing this
to our attention so that we can all learn from
this unique experience. For further reading
about twinning in wild birds, see ornithologist
Laura Erickson's blog post, Twins and Double
Yolks in Bird Eggs. ❖
Touching Eggs to See if They
Are Warm
by Keith Kridler, Mt. Pleasant, TX.
Posted March 1, 2013 on the Yahoo Bluebirders’
Monitors Group
reprinted from Bluebird News, Summer 2013,
by the New York State Bluebird Society
L
ots and lots of folks touch the eggs in their
nesting boxes to see if they are “warm”. I
really don’t like to do this as you do not know
how long the female has been off of the nest
and it really does not matter to the overall
outcome of that nesting attempt whether or not
they are warm or not when you go by to monitor.
Bet Zimmerman, Ann Wick and others always
preach that while monitoring, we monitors
The Nestbox
Fall-Winter 2013
should “Do No Harm”.
I see no advantage to touching wild bird eggs
as we humans have a vast array of germs,
bacteria and even viruses on our fingers that
we can transfer from our finger to the eggs in
these nests. IF you have a cold or the flu you
can transfer that to the eggs in the nests and
then these can be transferred to the female,
she can then transfer these to her mate while
they are exchanging food. Bird Egg Shells are
porous, moisture can transfer inside to outside
in these eggs and also outside to inside.
Germs and bacteria can easily travel from the
outside to the inside. EACH time these eggs
cool just a few degrees air will get sucked in
through the shells as air and egg contents
contract with the chilling of these eggs. EACH
time the female returns and warms up the
eggs, expansion inside the shells happens and
some of the air gets forced back outside the
egg and with this comes the exchange of CO2
and Oxygen. These eggs are living, breathing
extremely fragile structures. Check them out
on the web photos through microscopes!
I picked up a thermal thermometer last year
that reads by infrared reflection of the surface
temperatures. I just came in from working
outside in 35*F temperatures without gloves and
my finger tips each read a higher temperature
on my middle fingers on each hand at about
78*F with the pinky fingers being 63*F. OK
maybe I could feel a “warm” bluebird egg with
my pinky fingers. But my son Shawn’s fingers
read 89*F on his index and middle fingers while
his ring finger and pinky read 68*F and he was
working in a 68*F building. I highly recommend
that you buy a thermal thermometer that reads
high enough to check out the temperatures of
cooked meats. Especially for you folks like us
who rely on microwave cooking. You might think
that boiling in a microwave is 212* F but when
you stir and eat the foods they are often already
down in the 140*F range and nowhere near hot
Fall-Winter 2013
enough to kill salmonella and or some of the
more nasty germs. Check the temperature of
your finger tip and then try to tell the differences
in various surface temperatures!
With a thermal thermometer you can you can
walk up to a nesting box and shoot the outside
of the nesting box that is getting hit with full
sun in the afternoon and then you can shoot
through the entrance hole and check out the
temperature of the back wall of the inside of
the box, right above the nest and you can get
an idea of what the inside the nesting box
temperature is for the eggs and or young and
or incubating female.
We use these thermometers to find where
cold air is coming into homes and businesses
around leaky windows and or bad electrical
installations in walls and ceilings. You need to
“accurately” check the temperature of your hot
water taps to ensure that young children and
older adults will NOT get scalded, big difference
between the hot water cut off temperature
and the lower temperature cut on for water
heaters. You can save an expensive trip to the
emergency room to treat a hot water burn and
or just save a lot of money over the course of a
year by adjusting the water temperature to the
lowest you can tolerate.
Bluebird eggs and most of the other songbird
and domestic poultry eggs should be around a
maximum of 99*F for optimal hatching success.
A few hours at 106*F can be lethal to the
embryo inside the eggshells. At few minutes at
116*F will also probably be fatal. All sorts of
“birth defects” and hatching out problems occur
when long term egg incubation temperatures
are either too hot and or too cold.
Each time you accidentally break an egg and or
drop eggs out of a nesting box while monitoring
them you are probably killing one or more baby
birds. Normally about 80% of the eggs laid in
a nest will hatch. Normally you ARE going to
The Nestbox
Page 5
lose some eggs to abandonment, predators
and weather during the year. Folks who tell
me that “every egg laid in my nesting boxes
this year hatched and then every one of them
fledged” either did not monitor very closely
and/or they only had one or two nestings all
summer. The more nests of birds you have the
more problems you will see over the course
of a nesting season. The more years you
monitor lots and lots of nesting boxes then the
more unusual things you will see to the point
that nothing weird or unusual is out of the
question!❖
Gary Lelliott Award
A
reminder for folks to submit nominations
for the award by June 1st, 2014.
Nominations may be sent via email to Bob
Bogula or Sherry Linn, or mailed to Box
494, Oliver, BC V0H 1T0.
Weasel!
via Margaret MacKenzie, Vernon
H
ere is an interesting report and excellent
photos sent June 19th by Vicky and
Lloyd Atkins who monitor the nestboxes at
the Allan Brooks Nature Centre.
"Last Sunday we were checking our nest
boxes near the Nature Centre when we
were surprised by a long-tailed weasel in
one of the tree swallow boxes. One tiny dead
nestling (see the picture) and the remains of
another were all that were left of the young.
The weasel was quite feisty and tried to bite
the putty knife Lloyd had in his hand as he
opened the box. Lloyd then used my walking
stick to hold the door open and gain some
distance from the weasel as I took some
pictures. In the future we will be sure to use
something other than our hands to open the
nest boxes!" ❖
The following are some of the selection
criteria considerations:
✔ Long term dedication (i.e. many years
monitoring, submitting annual nestbox
data);
✔ Educating neighbors & the community at
large about bluebird conservation – the
why and how;
✔ Working with youth, either one-to-one
or with organizations, helping to monitor,
etcetera;
✔ Current or previous fundraising or
assistance in getting outside donations to
support SIBTS in its programs;
✔ Introducing new members to SIBTS.
The above are not exclusive and other
factors also may be taken into consideration
for the award.
Page 6
The Nestbox
Fall-Winter 2013
Elevating Nestboxes
The photographs on this page illustrate a
technigue used by Mike Nicholl of Vernon to
thwart marauding cows along his trail.
The
innovative
pole
extensions
are
made
from electrical conduit,
purchased used at a local
scrap/surplus store for
$2 to $3 per length. A few
were made from wood.
Mike takes a small ladder
with him to reach the
boxes. ❖
Fall-Winter 2013
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Page 7
Reporting Banded Birds
T
he North American Bird Banding program
relies on the public to report found bird bands
to their office. In Canada only about 10 percent
of bands applied to game birds and less than
1 percent of bands applied to song birds are
recovered.
If you do find a banded bird
or a bird band it is important
to note as much information
as you can about the bird.
This will help scientists and
researchers continue to learn
about, monitor and conserve our
bird populations.
If the bird is found alive do not try to remove
the band. The band was put on under licence
and trying to remove it may cause permanent
injury to the bird. Future information that may
be gathered during the life of the bird is vital.
Please note the following:
1. numbers, in sequence, appearing on the
band or bands
2. colours and materials of any bands
or markers in addition to a metal band
3. date on which the bird or band was
found or observed
4. exact location the bird or band was found
or observed
5.
species, sex and age of the bird (if
known)
6. whether the bird was alive, dead, injured,
free, or trapped
7. how the bird died (if known)
continued on next page
SOUTHERN INTERIOR BLUEBIRD TRAIL SOCIETY
MEMBERSHIP FORM
NAME: (please print)___________________________________________________________
ADDRESS: Street_____________________________________________________________
City ____________________________ Province ________ Postal Code ________________
Phone __________________________ E-mail: _____________________________________
2013/4 Membership $10.00 per household $_________
Donation $_________
Please make cheque payable to:
Southern Interior Bluebird Trail Society (or SIBTS), P.O. Box 494, Oliver, BC V0H 1T0
A tax deductible receipt will be issued for donations.
For Office Use Only:
Date Rec’d __________ Date of Deposit __________ Entered on Member List ___
Page 8
The Nestbox
Fall-Winter 2013
continued from page 8
and when it was banded, its age, whether it was
male or female, and who banded it. The Banding
Office will tell the bander where and when the
bird or band was found and its condition.
Sometimes band numbers are difficult to read
because of wear. Bird bands may be flattened
and taped securely to a piece of paper and sent
with the above information to our office. You can
also try etching the band by flattening it, cover it
with a piece of paper and using pencil, rub the
lead over the band. This will often reveal even
hard to read numbers.
Send the information to the Bird Banding Office.
Report your observations by calling the Bird
Banding Office toll-free 1-800-327-2263 (1-800327-BAND), by sending an email to BBO_CWS@
ec.gc.ca or by writing a letter to:
Be sure to include your name, mailing address,
and phone number so that the Banding Office
may send you a certificate of appreciation. The
certificate will tell you the species of bird, where
Bird Banding Office
National Wildlife Research Centre
Environment Canada
Ottawa ON K1A 0H3
Interpretive Trail Signs
members of which maintain and monitor many
local nestbox trails.
by Harold Sellers
T
hese signs were recently installed on a
walking trail on Middleton Mountain in
Vernon, BC. A portion of the trail parallels a
bluebird trail.
The intent of the series of three signs was to
educate the public about cavity nesting birds,
the importance of providing nestboxes for some
The area is a
Regional District of
North Okanagan
park, located
within the urban
area of Greater
Vernon, but on
top of this low,
flat mountain. The
views are great
in all directions.
Three local lakes
can be seen, as can
distant mountain
ranges.
The signs were
the initiative of the
North Okanagan
Naturalists’ Club,
Fall-Winter 2013
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Page 9
species and the role of community
members to monitor the boxes and
birds.
Funding to launch the project to
design, manufacture and install three
interpretive signs came from BC Hydro.
With draft wording and photographs
from club members, a local graphic
designer was hired to create the
sign content. The Regional District’s
parks department assisted with the
manufacture and then handled (and
paid for) the installation.
When you are in Vernon, take a hike
to the top of Middleton Mountain and
enjoy the scenery and the signs.❖
Page 10
The Nestbox
Fall-Winter 2013
Southern Interior Bluebird Trail Society
20 ___ Nesting Report Form
Total # of Nestboxes Available: ______ Total # of Nestboxes Used: ______
# of
Cavity Nesting Species Boxes
Used
# of
Eggs
Laid
# of Eggs
Hatched
# of 2nd
# of Chicks Nestings
Fledged
in same box
Western Bluebird
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
Mountain Bluebird
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
Tree Swallow
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
Violet-Green Swallow
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
House Wren
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
Black-capped Chickadee _____
_____
_____
_____
_____
Mountain Chickadee
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
White-breasted Nuthatch _____
_____
_____
_____
_____
Red-breasted Nuthatch
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
Pygmy Nuthatch
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
Other (please specify)
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
NAME: ________________________________________
AREA: ____________________
Address: ______________________________________
Phone: ____________________
_______________________________________
P/Code: ___________________
E-mail: ____________________________________________
Please include a map of your trail(s) on the reverse side or attach a separate page. Add comments of
interest to the membership at large to be included in the Spring newsletter, The Nestbox. Some examples
and clarification for data entry are on the reverse side. These may seem simple, but many forms are
incomplete. If you have any questions about filling in the form, please contact Sherry Linn 250-495-7891
or goldstrm@vip.net
Fall-Winter 2013
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Complete at end of the season and mail to: SIBTS, P.O. Box 494, Oliver, BC V0H 1T0
or bring to the AGM or send via email to Sherry.
Map of your trail. Please include closest highway or main road near your trail location if possible.
1. The “Total # of Nestboxes Available” should not be less than the “Total # of Nestboxes Used”.
2. The “# of Boxes Used” by the individual “Cavity Nesting Species” may not be equal to the “Total # of
Nestboxes Used” at the top of the form. (i.e. I have 3 nestboxes, all are used by bluebirds on the first
nesting, a pair of swallows then nests after one of the bluebirds; my “Total # of Nestboxes Used” is 3
but if I add the “# of Boxes Used” by the individual “Cavity Nesting Species” it will total 4)
3. The “# of Boxes Used” by the individual “Cavity Nesting Species” should not include in the number of
boxes that had a second nestings. (i.e. a nestbox is used by Western Bluebirds, they lay 5 eggs, all
hatch & all fledge; there is a second nesting of Western Bluebirds in that same box ; they lay 4 eggs,
all hatch & fledge; you enter 1 box used, 9 eggs, 9 hatched, 9 fledged,1 second nesting.) Remember
that second nestings in a box by the same species may not be the same pair.
4. Check that your form is complete. Many times the “Total # of Nestboxes Available” is left blank. When
compiling the data your previous year’s form is not used so the # of boxes is unknown. You may also
have lost a nestbox to predators over the winter or revamped your trail and this of course alters your
numbers.
Page 12
The Nestbox
Fall-Winter 2013