Bluebird work

Thru my bike club I got to know a fellow club member, Allen, a man who is big into helping eastern bluebirds. I had accompanied him on a ride, and afterward he checked out a nesting box he had set up in a state forest. He opened the side door of the box, and we found the mother bird was sitting the nest with several eggs. It was a pretty cool experience. Over time I learned more about helping the endangered birds to thrive in our area, and eventually became active. Thru a volunteer bike activity, I had previously gotten to know a county employee who, upon my request, secured clearance from the powers that be to set up some boxes in a county park near me. Three of us installed the boxes, and now they are my responsibility to monitor for any nesting activity, egg laying, hatching, and fledglings. I am looking forward to the task, which begins in earnest around the first of April here in NJ.

Beyond the upcoming nesting-box monitoring, I offered to help with the building of the boxes in Jim's well-equipped workshop, a converted two-car garage behind his Williamstown home. It feels good to be doing woodworking again after many years away from it. Thus far I have had 5 sessions helping out with cutting the lumber (locally harvested Atlantic white cedar, purchased from a one-man sawmill operation) and assembling the boxes; they are given away to whoever wants to have Allen put them up in an appropriate location.

UPDATE 1/12/2023: After two spring/summer seasons of no luck, Jim and I removed the bluebird boxes in mid-December 2022. They will be better used elsewhere.

I found the whole process informative and interesting, so I don't feel it was a waste of my time and energy. And the tree swallows seemed to like the nesting boxes a whole lot (not surprisingly, as they were right by the Cooper River). Sparrows and wrens, too. But no bluebirds. For 2022, we had even relocated and paired four boxes, two sets of two maybe 30 feet apart, as there is some evidence that tree swallows will take over one and not allow other tree swallows to take over the second one, leaving it available for bluebirds. But bluebirds were not seen or known to frequent this local area. Oh well.