The Lake Fork Valley Conservancy’s Bluebird Project is wrapping up its second year of monitoring the nesting activity of the Mountain Bluebirds along State Highway 149. When monitors and other volunteers are certain that all nesting activity has ceased, they will clean out their nest boxes and winterize the boxes with a coating of mineral oil. We had 12 monitors this year for our 110 nest boxes.
Next spring we will have an estimated 80 additional nest boxes ready for nesting and monitoring between Powderhorn and Blue Mesa Reservoir.
We will need monitors for these boxes next spring. Monitors check each box at least once a week, preferably on the same day of the week. If you go to Gunnison once a week, it would be easy to check your boxes on your way.
Although our nest boxes are designed for bluebirds, they benefit several cavity nesting native birds, e.g. House Wrens and Tree Swallows. The entry holes are 1.5” in diameter, which is too small for the invasive and predatory European Starling.
On June 20th LFVC Bluebird Project volunteers, Melanie Merrill, Emily Rothschild, Sue Brix and Hector Gomez, fulfilled the Bluebird Project’s promise to pick up trash as part of CDOT’s Adopt-A-Highway program along two miles of State Highway 149 at Miller Flats. We’ll be out there again this fall picking up trash. Come give us a hand!
Judy Boyce
Lake Fork Valley Conservancy
Bluebird Project
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