Led by Carol Miller, FoBM members monitor the Black Mountain Bluebird trail. The goal is to encourage both Western and Mountain Bluebirds to raise their young in the park. This past year, an application was made to RDCO and Thanks to your volunteer hours in the park, we were granted funds to expand and enhance the bluebird trail. Earlier this Spring, we installed 3 new nest boxes near the ephemeral pond. We are encouraged with nesting activity: Tree Swallows have built a nest in one of the new boxes! We have also installed corrugated plastic pieces on the roof of many of the existing boxes with the hope of reflecting sunshine off to keep the inside of the boxes cooler in the hotter days of late Spring/early Summer. Newly hatched birds are sensitive to overheating.
Of 23 nest boxes on our trail, we have seen Mountain Bluebirds nesting, laying eggs and hatching young in 3. There are also 3 boxes with Tree Swallow building nests but no eggs as yet. We haven’t seen any Western Bluebird activity so far. One box again has a House Wren nest - not ideal but hopefully far enough away from Bluebirds that predation won’t be a problem.
We are also encouraged in this project with new members who have joined the weekly monitoring and installation projects. If you’re interested in learning more about the birds in our park, please send an email and we’ll connect you with the team. We still have more months of monitoring activity and a few more installations to do this year.