Bluebirding in Maine

Anyone who attended this year’s North American Bluebird Society conference in Boise, ID a few weeks back is likely to have met my mom Candy. My mom traveled all the way out to Boise from her home in the mountains of central Maine. Although she wasn’t traveling for the Bluebird Society conference alone – my wife Miranda and I got married the weekend after the conference – my mom has developed a love for bluebirds over the past couple of years.

This spring my mom set up her first nestbox and she was overjoyed when a pair of eastern bluebirds took an interest in the box right away. Ever since this pair began nest-building in late May I’ve been getting regular updates on their progress, and now that I am visiting my mom’s house in Maine I have finally gotten the chance to watch this pair of birds for myself.

The box is set up in an ideal location along the edge of a 3-acre field. My mom has been cutting the grass in a roughly half-acre section of the field surrounding the nestbox and her garden plot (while waiting to cut the remainder of the field until the fall to provide important nesting habitat for a variety of grassland songbird species). I spent several hours in the field this morning watching as both bluebird parents dove down numerous times hunting insects in the short grass and feeding their chicks.

This afternoon my mom and I went out to check on the box and were happy to find a clutch of healthy nestlings, which I estimate to be 14-16 days old. My mom plans to expand her bluebird trail next year, adding an additional 2-3 nestboxes, and she has convinced her neighbors to put up a few boxes as well!

Although she won’t be monitoring nearly as many nestboxes as the subject of our film Bluebird Man, my mom’s newfound love of bluebirds is significant for two reasons. First, it is important to remember that Eastern Bluebirds really do need our help. This is a species that has become almost completely reliant on people to provide nesting habitat throughout large portions of their range. Without humans building, maintaining and monitoring nestboxes, Eastern Bluebird populations would face precipitous declines. Second, we must not forget about the benefits that bluebirds provide for us. My mom absolutely loves checking on her bluebird box – she can see the pair hunting from her front porch and they fly right over her head while she’s working in the garden. Let’s not forget what a beautiful and mutually beneficial relationship we have the ability to create with this wonderful species!