Loss of habitat | Alberta conservation group monitors network of nesting trails
They sit on the posts of barbed wire fences that are strung across much of southern Alberta.
Nest boxes, used by brilliantly hued mountain bluebirds, are monitored by volunteers and largely responsible for increasing the population of this native songbird species in the region.
Southern Alberta’s Mountain Bluebird Trails Conservation Society meets regularly to discuss bluebirds, boxes and the many things members see while monitoring and maintaining the nest box trail.
The network extends west, south and east to the British Columbia, Saskatchewan and U.S. borders and north to the Nanton region.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
Ken Mackintosh has a trail of more than 70 boxes north of Coaldale, Alta., which he has maintained for more than 26 years. His father, Duncan, started the society in the early 1980s.
“It’s a bird that’s easy to help and it’s supposed to be more numerous than it is,” Mackintosh said.
“Once you’ve made a mess of something, as we have with these invasive species, it’s nice to find something you can do.”
Starlings and English sparrows, both introduced to North America, compete with bluebirds for nesting sites.
That competition, plus loss of habitat, drastically reduced bluebird numbers, but they are slowly improving.
Society president Joe Michielsen, who monitors a bluebird trail north of Tempest, Alta., and another near Fort Macleod, Alta., said monitoring the nest boxes is a pleasant task.
“To monitor a trail, you check the boxes in the spring, probably in April, make sure the boxes are clean and everything is good with the boxes,” he said.
“Then you would go out once the birds start nesting towards the end of May, and to really keep track of how successful the boxes are, you would go out again at the beginning of June and probably the end of June just to see if all the eggs hatched and if all the birds fledged.”
That may sound like a lot of trips, but Michielsen said it is a labour of love for many society volunteers and one that they often incorporate with other interests.
“I find most of the people go out more often just because they’re out there for other reasons, because they enjoy being out there with nature,” he said.
“It is a major part of the appeal for me. I like the bluebirds. I like watching what they do. I like seeing that they are being successful. But I also like all the other birds that are out there and all the wildlife that I see.”
Banding is part of the process for society volunteers who are trained how to do it. It provides information on migration and age.
Bluebirds migrate to Texas and Mexico and often return to the place of their hatching.
Their habits still fascinate Mackintosh, who has been on the bluebird trail since he was a tot.
“I myself have had the same bird come back to the box it was born in, I believe it’s seven years. That bird has been back and forth to Mexico, spring and fall,” he said.
“That’s more miles a year than I put on my car. You take the average person, put them in West Edmonton Mall and spin them around three times, they can’t find their car. This thing is finding the box it was born in after it goes to Mexico.”
Michelle Fortney lives in Leth-bridge but plans to establish a bluebird trail this fall near the Oldman Reservoir at Cowley, Alta., where she and her family camp each summer.
The nest boxes are not easy to come by since a building project at the Lethbridge Correctional Centre went on hiatus. Fortney was thrilled to acquire the last in a set of four nest boxes at a society meeting in October.
“I heard about this and how the native nesting habitat for mountain bluebirds has been taken away from them by invasive species,” said Fortney.
“We’re out there camping every weekend anyway. We’re out taking walks and hikes and taking the dogs for a walk. Why not have a little project to do while you’re out there?”
Former society president Ken Moore said his trail maintenance takes him into the mountains he loves.
But despite his efforts, he has never had a bluebird nest on his trail. Tree swallows are taking advantage of his hospitality.
“Tree swallows are native and indigenous to all of southern Alberta,” said Moore.
“We cater to all birds that are indigenous to this area, which includes tree swallows. So even though I’m disappointed that I don’t get mountain bluebirds in my boxes, I’m actually quite happy that I do get something, which we’re trying to also provide habitat for, and that’s the tree swallows.”
- The songbird is native to North America and one of three types of bluebirds on the continent.
- They are found from Yukon to southern British Columbia and Alberta
- They travel in flocks of 50 to 100 during migration to Texas and Mexico.
- Bluebirds are mainly ground feeders of insects but will also eat berries.
- Bluebird “trails” of nest boxes have helped increase population.
- Swallows, chickadees and wrens compete for nesting sites.
