Photo By Scott Sturkol | A female Eastern bluebird stands on a nesting box July 12, 2018, on North Post at Fort...... read more read more
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Annually, 10 volunteers come to Fort McCoy and participate in a bluebird nest box and monitoring program to track the Eastern bluebird population at Fort McCoy.
The volunteers complete the survey for the Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin (BRAW), said Kent D. Hall who coordinates data collection and analysis for Fort McCoy program.
“The (program) at Fort McCoy is sponsored by the Aldo Leopold Audubon Society of central Wisconsin,” Hall said. “And the data collected by the Fort McCoy volunteers is sent to BRAW.”
Wildlife Biologist David Beckmann with the Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch said the survey has been conducted for many years.
“We have about 280 nest boxes that are monitored here on post,” Beckmann said.
BRAW monitors have checked 1,370 bluebird nest boxes statewide so far in 2018. Through June 24, the monitors reported more than 3,700 eggs were laid by nesting pairs of bluebirds in those boxes.
So why all the surveys? Hall addressed that need in a 2010 article with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
“In the late (19)70s and 80s, bluebirds plunged to alarmingly low numbers,” Hall wrote. “Ice storms on their wintering grounds, a loss of nesting habitat, and poor nesting success up north contributed to a 90 percent reduction in bluebirds here in less than 50 years.
“Alarmed about this situation, Wisconsin DNR’s Bureau of Endangered Resources approached citizen groups around the state … in the winter of 1986 to stimulate interest in starting an artificial nest box program to bring back this imperiled species,” Hall said in the article. “As a result of that meeting, the Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin formed in March 1986 to build some help for bluebirds.”
Hall notes that bluebirds are “brilliant and beautiful,” and they are easy to see and recognize.
“Many species are secretive and flit around in the bushes, but bluebirds are open-area birds that perch hunt for food,” Hall wrote. “They are amazingly tolerant of humans while they are nesting. They invite us into their lives and make it easy to seal a friendship.”
According to the Audubon Society, the Eastern bluebird is the most widespread of the three bluebirds in the United States.
“A high percentage of Eastern Bluebirds in North America today nest in birdhouses put up especially for them along ‘bluebird trails,’” states the Audubon’s web page for the Eastern bluebird at https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/eastern-bluebird. “When they are not nesting, these birds roam the countryside in small flocks.”
The Audubon Society also states the bluebird does much foraging by “perching low and fluttering down to ground to catch insects, often hovering to pick up items rather than landing.” It “also catches some insects in mid-air, and may take some while hovering among foliage, and feeds on berries by perching or making short hovering flights in trees.”
Though BRAW was formed in the 1980s, Beckmann said the organization’s volunteers didn’t start their work at Fort McCoy until much later.
“The installation wildlife program did the monitoring and banding (of the bluebirds) from the late 1970s until the volunteers came in to (help with) it right around 2005,” Beckmann said.
And over the many years BRAW has worked throughout Wisconsin and at Fort McCoy, Beckmann said the bluebird numbers have been good and should continue to do well.
To learn more about the Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin, visit www.braw.org.
| Date Taken: | 07.25.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 07.25.2018 15:28 |
| Story ID: | 285700 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 46 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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