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

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Presidential Points Anne T. Sturm Five years ago , whe n the blueb ird co nse rvat ion committees of the Maryland Ornitholog ic al Soc iety, the Aud ubon Natu ralist Soc iet y of the Ce n tr al Atlantic States , and the Pri nce Geo rge 's Co unty Audubon Soci ety banded t oget her to form the Nort h American Blu ebird Soc iety, not even the most opti mis tic founding members expec ted to see as much grow t h as we have experienced. The ori gin al concept of NA BS was t o be an educational c leari ng- ho u se fo r people a nd or ganizat ion s interested in blueb ird preservat ion. In r ev i ewi n g N A B S ' a c - co mplis hments ove r it s first fi ve yea rs, th e fou nding of our popular quarterly journ al , Sia/ia , heads the li st. It is the informat ion cente r for the ser ious bluebird trail ope rato r and pro fessio nal rese arch er as well as th e individua l bluebird lover. Sie tie is th e lifeline o f the Soc iet y. NABS has dis trib uted over a quart er of a mil lion pi eces of educati onal material inc ludi ng nestbox plans and instructi ons fo r monitoring a bluebird trail. Chairma n Dick Tu ttle and his Educa tion Committ ee have ass embled an exce llent slide program. The one hundred copies t hat have been so ld are t aki ng the bluebird conservation sto ry t o youth grou ps, ga rde n and service clubs, se nior citi zens, and others. Many more copies have bee n rent ed for the same pur pose. NABS has serve d as a cl earinghouse for the many problems faci ng nestbox traiI op erat ors such as co m pe tit io n from Hou se Wrens , Tr ee Swallows, and House Spa rrows . The Socie ty ha s en co ura ged w ildl ife plant ings emp has izing the special needs of bluebirds and has di s tri buted informa t ion co nce rning their Winte r food. NA BS has in itiated an awards program to rec ognize some of th e outstanding wo rk being done in blu ebird 42 co nse rvation. Perhaps t he major thrust of the So ciety has been t o encou rage pub lication of the bluebird s tory whe rever possib le- from articles in rocal com munity week Iies t o features in magazines of nati on al dist ribution. Without do ub t the most success ful publicity for blue birds was Joan Rattner Heilman 's art ic le w hic h appeared In Pa rade magazin e, Novem ber 27, 1979. A lth ough much has been accomplis hed in our first five years, we are lookin g toward th e future. D ick Tuttle's committe e IS planning th e produ cti on of a mov ie. This wo uld enab le the television media to spread the word about the bluebi rd even more ef fec tive ly. Board mem ber Rich Dol esh is stud ying how NA BS can be nefi t fro m pi, bhc service annou nc e ment s on radio and television. Research Co mmit tee Chair man, Ted d Gutzke , with the help of hi s co m mi tt ee, will be ad minis tering grants to sti m u la te n ee d ed r e s e ar ch on bluebirds. The know ledge ga ined from suc h resea rch w ill help us aid the bluebird and other ca vity nesters more effec t ively. Bluebird research has shc wn that other native cavity neste rs are experienci ng problem s due to lack of nat ural cav it ies. The ch arter of the North Am erican Bluebird Soci ety is dedicated to helpi ng to preserve a ll of t hese nat ive bird species. The best th ing about th is exci t ing fu ture is th at we know NABS ' ef fo rts in educ at io n, research , and communicat io n will ult imately succeed beca use our centr a l te ne t -b l ue b i r d c on s er vati on-works / (Continued o n page 64) Sia lia, Spring 1983
History of Bluebird Conservation For man y years bluebirds have been in trou ble try ing , usually in vain , t o ma intain thei r pop ula tion. Vari ous fact ors have been involved in the bl uebird popu lati on dec lin e, but t he principal causes are beli eved to be a shortage of the natural cav iti es they requ ire for nes ti ng plus sev ere co mpe ti tion fro m the alien Hou se Sparrows and Euro pean Starl in gs for mos t avai lable cavit ies. Con sequ ently, efforts to help the bluebird have been con f ined laroe Iy to supplying th em wi t h nesting boxes moun ted in su it able habitat , and in try ing to prote ct th e bird s duri ng th e nest ing seas on from their natural and imported enemie s. Publi c conce rn over the plight of t he blu ebird has increased enormously in recent years . Hundreds of people have become ac tively invo lved in hel p in g th ese beautiful birds and many t housands of bluebird nesting boxes have been erected throughout t he United Sta tes and Ca nada . A brief reo view of some of t he important milestones in t he bl uebird conservat ion effort should therefore be of interest. Early Bluebird Aids Law rence Zeleny Before the advent of the white man in No rth America, American Indians were sa id to have erected hollowed -out gou rds in their Villages to attrac t Purpl e Martin s. The purpose wa s evidently to help con trol objec t ionable fl yin g in sects, si nce martins consume large numbers of such insec ts. Hollowed-out go urds are still used to attract ma rtins, part icul arly in some part s of t he South. Sin ce blu ebirds frequently use these go urds for nest in g, it is as sumed that they also used some of th e go urds su pp lied by th e lndians before any Europ eans settled in America . This then probabl y represents the beginn ing of th e cust om of attracti ng blueb irds by supp lying arti ficial nest ing sites. In early Colon ial ti mes t he East ern Blueb ird is know n to have been much Vol ume 5, Nu mber 2 admired and was often called th e " blue robin" since it reminded the c olonists of their beloved European Robin. The bluebird gradually beca me a symbol of love, hope, and happiness. Thi s symbol ism persists tod ay. Throu gh the years the blueb ird has been menti oned more frequently th an any other bird in American poetry and in th e lyr ic s of our popular songs. It seem s probabl e that some of the early col onists att rac ted blueb irds clos e to t heir homes wi th nesting boxes of some sort, although documentat ion of this is obscure. 43
Page 1 and 2: 8ia ia Volume 5, Number 2 Spring 19
Page 3: 8 ialia The Quarterly J o u rnal Ab
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 and 12: Ill in oi s' Calh oun County was ma
Page 13 and 14: Co mpany have established trail s o
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

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