The beauty and vitality of Eastern Bluebirds depends on the efforts of a dedicated team of volunteers who monitor and protect their nesting sites. In this blog, we shine a spotlight on these unsung heroes who play a crucial role in conserving Eastern Bluebirds and share their inspiring stories.
Our Eastern Bluebird Trails on Seabrook Island are located on Ocean Winds golf course, Crooked Oaks golf course and the Lakehouse. We have 71 nesting boxes strategically placed in suitable habitats. Our nesting season runs from March through August. There can be up to 3 cycles per season from one Eastern Bluebird pair. It is important to monitor these bluebird nesting boxes, to see how our bluebirds are doing during the season. A lot can happen to a bluebird box, as our volunteers know.
I would like to thank all of our current volunteers and the past volunteers for all their time and energy monitoring our bluebird trails. Meet the volunteers/A Big Thanks to:
- Jo and Jim Eisenhauer
- Janice and Michael Shada-Watson
- Eileen and Bob Mercer
- Karen and Russ Preston
- Melody Murphy
- Jane Magioncalde
- Carol Heilman
- Jane Marvin
- Val and Pat Luzadder
- Leslie Gore and Susan Miller
They have a lot of stories to tell during the monitoring season. We can find many things inside the boxes when we open to check on the bluebirds. We also find other critters inside. All the volunteers are passionate about birds and nature.
The responsibility of our volunteers is to check each box weekly. We document what we see inside. What species is nesting, is there a complete nest, how many eggs, how many young and how many fledged. They then clean out the box. There is a lot of maintenance involved with our boxes also.
Our maintenance volunteers, Val and Pat Luzadder have been a great help, since in the past year we will have replaced all 71 of our nesting boxes with new ones, thanks to the Seabrook Island Club and the Seabrook Island Birders donations.
We do have great success stories to tell.
Out of 71 nesting boxes, we had 74Eastern Bluebird nest attempts, 295 eggs, 267 hatched and 263 fledged. We do often, at the beginning of the year, have Carolina Chickadee nests also. They really like our bluebird boxes and often beat the bluebirds to it. We had 18 Carolina Chickadee nests, 81 eggs, 70 hatched and 69 fledged. For the Eastern Bluebirds, this is a 90% hatch rate and a 98% fledge rate. We have found that we had an issue with many of our eggs not hatching this year. Per the SC Bluebird Society, the heat can cause the Male Bluebird to become temporarily sterile. All Stats are reported to SC Bluebird Society (Cornell), Seabrook Island Club and the Environmental Committee.
Our volunteers are dedicated because they can encounter adverse weather conditions, gators, snakes, ants, wasps and many other things we find inside those boxes. But, their love of nature and the many babies bluebirds is where their passions lie.
If you are interested in being a Bluebird Volunteer for 2024, please contact Seabrookislandbirders@gmail.com.
Melanie Jerome