Bluebird nesting boxes and poles may be purchased at the club meetings. (Please contact Alyce Quinn: 540-719-0109; or Elly Wefel: 540-977-0636 prior to the meeting to make arrangements.)

2007 Bluebird Trail Stats
Tim and Alyce Quinn/Pam and Elly Wefel

We had an interesting year on our bluebird trails. For the first time since we took over as chairmen of the trails eight years ago, we had a Tufted Titmouse try her hand at nesting, but none of the eggs hatched. We usually get only bluebirds in our boxes at Hanging Rock Golf Course, but this year we had one successful Tree Swallow attempt. Maybe more Swallows will follow next year.

The Parkway and Hanging Rock Trails both had significantly fewer Bluebird eggs laid than were laid last year (possibly the drought meant fewer bugs available for feeding hungry nestlings), but on the Parkway a greater percentage of the eggs hatched and fledged, resulting in a better success rate. The success rate at Hanging Rock dropped a bit. Strangely, Botetourt Country Club actually produced more Bluebird eggs and young than last year. Could be the Bluebirds found the boxes before the Tree Swallows, because we had half the number of Swallow eggs there this year. Most of them fledged, however.

Twice as many Chickadee eggs were laid on the Parkway, but not all of them fledged. So even though we produced more Chickadees, our success rate was still lower than last year. The Parkway had fewer Tree Swallow eggs this year, but a higher percentage made it to fledging. The result was a nearly identical success rate. Confused yet? Here’s the numbers:

Hanging Rock Golf Course

Botetourt Country Club

So get in on the fun next year and become a monitor. We start signing people up in March.