IRAS Bluebird Trail

By Phyllis Mansfield

If you should see a Bluebird fly in front of you with the sun on it, surely you would be as enraptured as I am by the brilliant blue color and the contrast of the Robin-red breast! Thoreau said the Bluebird does carry the sky on his back.

Decline of the Eastern Bluebird occurred in part to habitat loss, lack of nesting cavities, and the House Sparrow and the Starling, both introduced from Europe. Bluebird population has been on the rise since the 1970s, because Bluebird nest box trails were phenomenally successful, marking the start of Bluebird conservation. The North American Bluebird Society was organized in l978.

Here in Brevard, the IRAS decided to try to establish Eastern Bluebirds by
placing and maintaining nest boxes in suitable habitat. In l990, Judy and
Jim Dryja were instrumental in getting permission and placing 80 nest
boxes in various parts of the county, with IRAS members as monitors. Volunteers included Ken Bennett at the Kempfer Ranch area, Doug Stuckey in North Brevard, Warren Frost at the Great Outdoors, and David Simpson at the Sebastian River Buffer Preserve and the Malabar Scrub area. Boxes were also placed on Orlando Utilities property and Jake’s Lake Sheriff property, north of Cocoa, which Judy monitored. Some pre-cut boxes were donated by Dr. Broussard and assembled by Howard Mansfield.

Howard and our son Mark had built nest boxes for our property in St. Louis in the 1970s, where the Bluebird is the state bird. I was delighted in l998 to start monitoring and observing these beautiful birds at Kempfer, plus the boxes at Orlando Utilities and Jake’s Lake. I made weekly trips to the boxes March through May, the nesting season.

Predation is a fact of nature. At Kempfer, I have instead of five blue eggs, encountered rat snakes curled up peacefully in the nest after consuming the Bluebird eggs. Predator guards did not stop them, and snakes can climb greased poles. Fire ants have invaded the nest, and I have discovered wasps, toads and spiders in the boxes. Warren tells me that even Flying Squirrels were, on occasion, enjoying the boxes. There have never been Bluebirds
at the Great Outdoors, Orlando Utilities, and Jake’s Lake.

Birds using the boxes have included Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Flickers,
Carolina Wren and Great-crested Flycatchers. Doug reports that he has
seen some Bluebirds, but he also has seen a Tufted Titmouse in a nesting
box.

In North Brevard, trees and nest boxes were destroyed in the fires of 1998. In addition, some trees were cut by the owner with loss of the nest box.

In May of this year, I reported there were no signs of Bluebirds at Kempfer, which I found most disappointing.

I would love to report that our Bluebird Trail has increased the numbers of Eastern Bluebirds, but this is not the case. In spite of many years of effort, the Bluebird population in these areas remains low to nonexistent.

Membership Application for the Indian River Audubon Society Chapter and the National and State Audubon Societies

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