BLUEBIRD BOXES
The Eastern Bluebird:
BLUEBIRD BASICS
• Cavity nesters
• Perchers- hunt for insects
from above
• Will eat fruits/nuts in the
winter
• Eastern bluebirds can be
found in Montgomery
County year-round
MATING BEHAVIORS TO LOOK FOR
1. Males attract females
to their nest by carrying
materials in and out of
the nest (early March)
2. Pairs mate for several
seasons
3. In one season a pair can
raise 1-3 families
4. Look for hatchlings in
April and July
5. Hatchlings take 17-21
days to leave the nest
BLUEBIRD NESTING CYCLE
March April
Su
3
M
Tu
W
4
5
6
Nest Construction (2-6 days)
Th
F
Sa
7
8
9
Eggs laid (5-7 days)
10
11
12
13
14
15
Incubation (12-14 days)
16
17
18
19
20
23
24
25 Eggs 26
27
28
29
hatch Raising of young (17-18 days)
30
31
1
6
2
3
21
4
22
5
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
• CONSERVATION
• Bluebirds are no longer threatened, thanks to
the development of bluebird trails and boxes
since the 1970s. It is important to continue this
effort
WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING?
BLUEBIRD BOXES IN 5 EASY STEPS:
1. Build your bluebird box
(with us)
2. Place your bluebird box at
your school site
3. Become a certified
NestWatch monitor
4. Enter your bluebird box as a
site on the website
5. Begin monitoring your
bluebird box!
WHERE TO PLACE YOUR BLUEBIRD BOX?
• Open field or lawn
– Scattered trees
– Low ground cover
– Entrance hole should face open
field, preferring east, north,
south, and then west-facing
directions
• Place your box in early March
PROJECT NESTWATCH
• A national bird monitoring program designed
to track status and trends in the reproductive
biology of birds.
• Run through Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• Brings together separate nest watching
activities across the country to create a
comprehensive data collection center
YOUR NEST SITE
MONITORING YOUR BLUEBIRD BOX
1. Visit the nest once or twice a week
2. Approach nest;
1. Make presence known
2. Give birds time to leave nest (if they are sitting outside
their nest and don’t leave, don’t visit)
3. Open nest and make observations of nest (keep it fast)
– Date and time
– Nest status
– Young status
REVIEW THE
– Adult status
NESTWATCH “CODE
– Habitat observations
OF CONDUCT”
4. Minimize disturbance to the nest
BEFORE DOING ANY
OBSERVATIONS!
COLLECTING
YOUR DATA
YOUR NEST SITE
ENTERING YOUR DATA
HOW TO EXPLORE DATA
• The point of using NestWatch is so that the data
you collect can be a part of a larger bluebird
monitoring program. You have access to the
information from other nests across the country
through this website.
NESTWATCH MAP ROOM
• Shows you the distribution of blue bird nests across
the country
NESTWATCH PROJECT WIDE DATA
DOWNLOADS
• Allows you to download Excel spreadsheets with
information on
– Species summary: total number of nesting
attempts, eggs, nestlings, and fledglings
– Reproductive success
– Raw Nesting Attempt Data- shows all of the data
that has been reported for every nesting
attempt submitted
RESOURCES
• http://nestwatch.org/
• http://www.allaboutbirds.org- bluebird facts
• http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birding/easternbluebird/- bluebird facts
• http://www.sialis.org/basics.htm- bluebird nesting cycle
• NestWatch Monitoring Manual (I can email this to you all or you
can google it, it is the first link to come up)
As always feel free to contact any of us with questions or concerns:
Smith Center: 301-924-3123
Bill Kraegel: William_Kraegel@mcpsmd.org
Jay Handzo: Jay_Handzo@mcpsmd.org
Kiri Brenner: Kiri_M_Brenner@mcpsmd.org