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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

doubt enriching the lives of hundreds of thousands of our finest young people at their most impressionable age by instilling into their minds greater love and respect for Iivi ng things and an understanding of the serious problems that fa ce some of our most cherished species of wildlife. The futu re of all conservat ion efforts lies in the hand of the co ming generation. Under the leadersh ip of Jack R. Fi nch of Bailey, North Caroli na, th e Rur itan Club of Mount Pleasant, No rth Caroli na, became involved in bluebird conservation in 1972. The Club obtain ed a charter and organized the nonprofi t bl uebi rd conservation corpo ration Homes for Bluebirds, Inc. Thr oug h this organization Fin ch began buil ding and set ting out nesting bo xes in caref ully sele ct ed locati ons throug hout much of both Nor th and South Carolina until eventuall y mo re than 2,000 boxes had been placed in mo re tha n 70 locations. These included nesting box es of seve ral di fferent or iginal desig ns, most of which have pro ved to be succes sful. Large increases in th e bluebird population appea r to have oc cu rred in many of the areas where hi s boxes are locat ed. Finch was the firs t person to call attention to th e heav y blueb ird casualties result ing from the birds invest igating and falli ng into t he open ings in t he flues of po t-type oil burn ers co mmonly used in tobaccocuring barns. Through his urging, this hazard was SUbstantially reduced by th e use of protective hardware-cloth sc reens on many of these flues. Mil ita ry reservations have often been found to be good lo cat ions for bluebird trails. One of the mo st successful trails in Maryland is located at the Aberdeen Proving Ground which consists of about 80,000 acres near t he northeastern corner of t he state , much of whi ch is exce llent bluebird habit at. A bluebird trail of approximately 300 boxes was esta blished there in 1974 by Ellis Porter, game warden at the Proving Ground, and Wilso n For d of ChurchVille, Mary lan d. An est im ated 675 bluebirds we re f ledged fro m this trail in 1975. Ford als o operates his 50 own trail of more than 300 boxes near Churchville. One of the most encouraging trends in the bluebird conservation movement is the gradual involvement of big industry. Perhaps the outstanding example of such involvement is that of the Bowater Carolina Co mpan y of Catawba, Sou th Carolina . This is one of a wo rld-wide family of co rnpames invol ved in lumb erin g and in the production of woo d pulp, paper, and other forest products. In 1975 Bowater began it s participation in the bluebird cause by producing well-made nesting boxes and givin g them wi th complete instructions to persons requesting them in th e Carolinas and adjo in ing states wh o would agree to ma ke prop er use of t hem and report the ir resu lts annually. More than 3,000 nestin g boxes have been distributed under thi s prog ram and t he results have been hig hly encouraging. In 1975 the Northe rn Neck of Virginia Audubon Society, a chapter of the Nat iona l Audubon Society , initiated a " Bring Back Blu ebi rds to Virginia" proj ect. Since that ti me the Soc iet y has sold throu gh local merch ants approximately 2,700 blu ebi rd nesting boxes , eac h accompan ied by instructions and a for m to report nesting res ults . The proj ect under the leadership of Mary A. Marlar is prov ing to be highly su ccess fu l. In-dept h researc h on the nesti ng habits and beha vior of the Eastern Bluebird during the breed in g season has been conducted by Bened ict C. Pinkowski (1975) at Wa yne Stat e Universi ty and by T. David Pit ts (1976) at the. University of Tennessee. Bot h Pinkowsk i and Pitts used th e results of t heir research as the bases fo r the ir Doctor of Philosophy dissertations. Bot h dis sertations contain information of great value to anyone serious ly involve d in bluebird conservati on wor k, Utility com panies in several areas have joined the b luebird conservat ion move ment by permitting th e placing of nesting boxes on th eir properties or by actually establishing bluebird trails. Both th e Pennsylvania Power and Light Co mpany and the Philadelphia ElectriC Sialia, Spring 1983
Co mpany have established trail s on th eir pr operti es in Lanca st er Co unty, Pennsylvania start ing in 1977 (Johnson, 1982). Robert M. Schut sky (1979) not only ope ra tes th e tr ail on t he propert y of th e Phil adel phi a Elect ric Company bu t co nd ucts one-day bluebird work sh ops several ti mes a year for all interest ed persons. Participants are instruct ed in th e principles of bluebird co nservat ion by means of illust rated lectures, de monst rati ons, f iel d obs ervat io ns, and act ual experience in constr uc t ing nesting bo xes . Junius Birch ard of Hac ket tstow n, New Jersey in 1977 began a campaig n to brin g back t he blu ebird to that state largel y throu gh the public sc hoo ls. He has given num erou s illustrate d t al ks on th e subject of bluebird co nservation bo t h to sc hool child ren and ad ult groups . In add ition he ha s obtained and sup plied at cost to in te res ted perso ns precut lumber fo r co nst ruc ti ng nearly 5,000 blu ebi rd nesting boxes . Each person receiving thi s mat erial is sup plied with detai led ins t ructions fo r bui lding t he boxes and se lec t ing th e most suita ble places to locate th em. Ass is ta nce and demon strat ion s are give n when need ed, es pecially to the sc hool c hil dren. North American Bluebird Society Founded in 1978 By ea rly 1978 public inte res t in th e plight of th e blu eb ird had reached a high level largely as a result of th e lon g ser ies of " Bluebird Trail " co lumns in Na ture Sociely News , a pub lic ati on of t he book The Bluebird : How You Can Hel p It s Fi gh t fo r Surviva l (Ze le ny, 1976), an art ic le on blueb irds in Na tiona! Geographic (Zeleny, 1977), and numerou s ot her rnaqazl ne and newsp aper artic les. As a resu lt a sma ll group of expe rienced blu eb ird ers got togeth er in t he Washing to n, D.C., area to c ons ider th e possibili ty of a cont inent-wide organizat io n t o promote the ca use of blu ebird co nse rvat io n. Th e dec is io n to proceed w ith suc h an organization was due in large pa rt to Vo lume 5, Number 2 th e unli mited enthusiasm of Mary D. J anetatos and Del os C. (Chuck) Dupree who had co mplete faith th at th e ventu re wo uld succeed and who later we re chosen as Exec ut ive Director and Treasur er, respect ively, of t he new No r th Am erican Blu eb ird Soci et y. Mu ch credit is also due Rob ert M. Patterson, the Soc iety's fi rst Pres ident, fo r guiding t he Societ y throu gh its diff ic ult fir st year; and Jon Boone, its Vi ce Presi dent and first Ed ito r of Sialia for the excel lent recept io n and prompt recogn ition t hat new per iodical rece ive d. The grea tes t and most rapid increase in pub lic awa reness of th e blue bird 's problems probably resulted from a we ll-wr itten popu lar art icle on th e s ubject by Joan Ratt ner Heilman (1979). The artic le appeared in Parade rnaqaztne, a sup plement to Sunday newspapers and wide ly di ssem inated throughou t most of t he United States. As a result of t his art ic le th e North Am eric an Blu ebird Society received so me 80,000 wri tten requests for addi t io nal inform at ion on blu ebird conse rva tion. • This review of the early his tory of the bluebird conservation movement is by no means complete but IS intended to cover only the most significant developments prio r to the orga niza tio n of th is Society in 1978 that have come to t he writer's atte n tion. Some Important work has very likely been overlooked. Developments since the Society was organized have been so numerous as to be beyond the scope of this review. Reports on important recent work in this field have been or it is hoped will be published in Sia lia or elsewhere. Literature Cited : Brinkerhoff, J . and A. 1980. Our success story. Sia lla 2:143·145. Chapman, F.M. 1924. Handbook of birds of eastern North America. D. Appleton & cc., p. 356. Dearborn, N. 1912. The English sparrow as a pest. Farmers Bullet in 493, 24 p., Revised 191 7, 22 p. ---------- 1914. Bird houses and how to build them. Farmers Bull etin 609, 19 p., Re · vised 1923, 23 p. Files, L.L. 1982. " His most serene birdship! " The bluebird In Thoreau's journal. Sialia 4:23-27. 51
Page 1 and 2: 8ia ia Volume 5, Number 2 Spring 19
Page 3 and 4: 8 ialia The Quarterly J o u rnal Ab
Page 5 and 6: History of Bluebird Conservation Fo
Page 7 and 8: ing box es and th us protects the n
Page 9 and 10: an exc ellent review of th e origin
Page 11: Ill in oi s' Calh oun County was ma
Page 15 and 16: Invertebrate Fauna of Eastern Blueb
Page 17 and 18: Figure 1. A dorsal view of Dermanys
Page 19 and 20: Figure 3. A dorsal view of Dermatop
Page 21 and 22: song to attempt to attract a mate.
Page 23 and 24: Cultu re-Does well on most soils ex
Page 25 and 26: 0 Ta bl e 1. 1982 Blue bi rd N eslb
Page 27 and 28: Grant's Folly Jon E. Boone ~ '..~ :
Page 29 and 30: the growt h of the young. In any ev
Page 31 and 32: Blueb ird Trail Directory Bluebi rd
Page 33 and 34: SASKATCHEWAN Saskatoon , Saskatchew
Page 35 and 36: A Californ ia Bluebird Story We mov
Page 37 and 38: Dealing with the Effects of Cold We
Page 39 and 40: th e ca bbage worms off my cabbaget
Page 41 and 42: 12 of the 3·inch ro und patches w
Page 44: Founded in 1978, THE NORTH AMERICAN

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

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?