Bluebird Notes

As Diane is away in exotic locales (Thailand to be precise) Don thought he would use her spot for a Bluebird nesting update.

Another bluebird nesting season is over and it was average in Lambton County but very poor in Bruce County. Weather continues to play an important part in the success of fledging young bluebirds. The adults tended to nest earlier and in May the weather was quite cool resulting in young birds expiring because of hypothermia, then last summer the weather became very hot and dry so the food chain suffered resulting in further losses.

In Lambton County the total nestings were up and the egg production was up but at the end of the year we only fledged one more bird. At Lion's Head Ann and I lost alI three first nestings because of coId weather and fledged only 1 + I + 3 or five young from three nest boxes because of the hot weather. Since Ann and I are spending more of our time in Lion's Head, I am very grateful to our trail operators like Gloria Strevel, Karen Burns, Ross Garham and Bob Byrns who faithfully monitor our nest boxes in Lambton County.

A comparison of the 200l and 2002 Lambton & Bruce Counties nesting season as well as a summary since 1988 is:

LAMBTON COUNTY
Year 1988 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02
Total # of nesting boxes 68 117 126 233 251 197 195 190 138 132 136 124 97 115 100
#ofnestings 4 6 19 16 22 17 15 23 11 6 14 13 15 16 19
# of eggs laid 17 38 89 95 137 71 62 104 43 34 56 56 67 66 78
#ofyoung hatched 13 28 65 79 115 56 46 77 34 20 45 45 52 61 59
# of young fledged 13 26 54 69 79 38 39 58 34 16 29 32 52 52 53
BRUCE COUNTY
Year 1988 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02
Total # of nesting boxes                           05 06
#of nestings                           02 06
#ofeggs laid                           08 17
#young hatched                           08 05
# of young fledged                           08 05


Prepared by
Don Smith Bluebird Nesting Coordinator

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