Vol. 5, No. 2; Spring 1983 - North American Bluebird Society

servaticn throu gh out mu ch of th e
United Stat es and Can ada.
The Audub on Naturalist Societ y of
th e Cent ral Atlantic State s (ANS)
laun ched a bl ue bir d project in 1967,
and a similar pro ject wa s begun In
1969 by th e Maryland Ornithologi cal
Soc iety (MOS). These two proj ects
soon becam e int egrated and some 75
collaborato rs parti cipat ed in th e wo rk.
By the end of 1978 ab out 3,100 nesting
boxes were being maintained and
an estimated 28,600 East ern Bluebird s
had been fledged from the boxes during
the 12 years of th e proj ect (Zeleny,
1979).
Edwin T. McKn ight of Bethesda,
Maryland has op erated blu ebird trails
in both Maryla nd and Virgin ia sin ce
1967, th e most successfu l of w hich is
in Stafford County, Virginia (McKnight,
1973). Mo re tha n 3,000 young bluebirds
have been fl edged fro m hIS nest ing
boxes. Through 1977 McKnight's results
were inc luded in the above-me n­
tioned jo int ANS-MOS project.
Instructio n in blu ebird c onservation
has been initiated in some public
sch ools to show th e children how th ey
can becom e person all y involved in
helping a deeply tr oubled spec ies of
w ildlife survive. Richard M. Tuttle
(1979), a junior hi gh sc hool teacher in
Delaware County, Ohio sta rted his own
bluebi rd tr ail in 1968. Inspired by th e
success of th is opera ti on he instruc ts
his students by means of illustrated
lectures and by having them construct
and mount their ow n nesting bo xes in
pro per habitat. Some of th ese stud ent s
then become su ffic ientl y interest ed to
develop th eir ow n bluebird tr ai ls. Tuttle
is now Chairman of the NABS Education
Committee.
Jes s and Elva Brin kerh off in 1968
starte d a small bluebi rd trail in southce
ntral Washing ton w hich later developed
into a tr ail of more tha n 800 nest ­
ing boxes sc attered thr oughout an
area of about 150 square m il es (Brinkerhoff
, 1980). Practically all o f the
boxes are used every year, mostly by
Mountain Bluebirds but w ith a few
Western Bluebirds. This may well be
the mo st co mplet ely successful large
48
bl uebird t rail ever developed, parti cula
rly in view of the fact that th ere were
very f ew blueb irds in th e area befo re
th e tra iI was sta rted. Bas ed on th eir ex·
perience the Brinkerh offs belie ve that
the Mountain Blu ebird s in th eir area requ
ire a nest in g box ent rance hol e
slig htly larger than the 1'/2 inc h di ameter
hole usually used. Thi s vie w is
s uppor ted by Alfred Perry who op erates
a 238 box trail near Boi se, Idah o.
Thi s contention is being studied and ,
if confirmed, may result In mo re successful
Mountain Bluebird conservati
on efforts over a co ns ide rable area
of the Wes t.
Lewi s L. Kibler (1969) is the aut hor
of a fine pap er on how to develop and
maintain a success ful bluebird tr ai l.
His reco mm endation s are based on hi s
own exper ie nce as well as th at of other
succ essful trail operators.
Hubert W. Presco tt of Port land,
Oregon , has ran g bee n co nce rned by
th e dwindl in g population of th e West·
ern Bluebird, particul arly in the regi on
of Oreg on's fert ile W il lamette Vall ey.
In about 1969 he began a seri ous study
of the prob lem and conc luded th at on e
of th e principal troubles was that, in
th e devel opment of th e Vall ey's land
fo r In tens ive ag riculture, the natural
c avities needed by th e bluebirds for
nesting had been mo stly destroyed
(Presc ott , 1979). In 1973 Prescot t initiat
ed blu ebird trails in th ree separat e
are as of th e Willamette Vall ey. Th e project
has been generally successful and
with th e ble ssin g and support of the
Portland Audubon Soc iet y has since
been co ns iderably expa nded.
In Ill inois, Ralph M.J. Sho ok of
Godfrey, remembe rin g th e abundance
of blu ebirds in his nati ve Cal houn
Cou nt y dur ing his boyhood, becam e
app all ed by how sca rce they had become
by 1970. Det erm ined to do w hatever
he cou ld to remedy the Situation,
he began bui ldi ng nest ing boxes which
he th en set out in rural areas. Som e
he gave aw ay to others w ho prom ised
to mount them in prop er location s. By
1973 nearl y 500 of hi s nesting boxes
had been set out, rou ghl y half of which
were occupied by blu ebirds, and the
badly depl et ed bl uebird population of
Si ali a, Spring 1983