By Don Bissonnette
In the Spring of 1989, I found a nesting pair of Eastern Bluebirds near Harrow, Ont. This surprised me, because I knew they were extirpated in many areas. I spoke with some members of our club, & I learned that Essex County did have a very small population of Bluebirds, mostly in the Southern half of the County.
I learned that other Nature Clubs (both in Canada & the United States) had set up Bluebird Committees, which managed birdhouse trails in their areas. In the mid-1980s, I had set up 3 trails, so I was familiar with Bluebird trail monitoring. I wondered if our Club would be interested in having a Bluebird Committee.
In 1989 or 1990, I attended a E.C.F.N. club meeting. I stood up, & gave a short talk on Bluebird Conservation. I held one of my birdhouses, for a prop. I asked the group, if any-one was interested in forming a Bluebird Committee, to speak with me at the end of the meeting. Fortunately, a few people did approach me.
I wanted this Committee to be successful, so I looked for information about Eastern Bluebirds,Tree Swallows, & setting up birdhouse trails. (This was before the internet!) Fortunately, people in the club sent me articles about these subjects, from magazines. I contacted a member of the Sydenham Field Naturalist’s ‘Bluebird Committee’, & he answered my questions, & gave me some practical information.
I spent some time, applying for grants. Our first grant came from Shell Oil’s ‘Environmental Fund’. That got the ball rolling, & we bought some t-bar posts, & birdhouse kits. A home improvement company sold us the kits (unassembled birdhouses). These kits were made with recycled wood, which kept our cost down to $8.33 each.
Setting Up The Club’s Bluebird Trails. In the early years, the Committee members were always on the lookout for good Bluebird habitat. Fortunately, Bill Balkwill contacted some property he knew, & secured permission for us, to set up & monitor birdhouse trails on their properties. The rest of us, did contact people we knew with good habitat, & asked them about setting up trails.
A few times, some of us, stopped at a farm, with good habitat. It seems bold, but we knocked on the door, & spoke to the people, who we did not know. We introduced ourselves, and explained that our Committee was looking for good Bluebird habitat. We asked if we could set up a Bluebird trail on their property, which was good Bluebird habitat. A few people did say no. Fortunately, some were enthusiastic & welcomed us. One couple I spoke with, told me they had occasionally seen Bluebirds on their farm, & were planning on setting up some birdhouses.
Setting Up Affiliate Trails In the early years, some of the local Newspapers reported about our Bluebird Committee. This led to some property owners contacting me, & asking for help in setting up a Bluebird trail. I did visit some of these people, to determine if they had good Bluebird habitat.
If these people had good Bluebird habitat, I gave them literature about Bluebird Conservation. (This was before the days of internet googling!) Some of these people allowed us to set up a Club trail on their property.
Others, wanted to own their own birdhouses, & do the monitoring themselves. Some of these people built their own birdhouses or bought birdhouses from me. These became the Affiliate trails. Some Affiliates telephoned me, in their first years, with questions. I did my best to answer these questions, or help them find the answer. Some of these Affiliates shared their statistics with us, every Fall.
The Bluebird Committee Today In the recent years, there are 4 monitors of the Bluebird Committee: Joan Affleck, Alan Batke, Graham Brown & myself. We look after the club’s 7 trails which contain 28 houses. Some of us also look after the 3 Essex Windsor Solid Waste Authority Bluebird trails. We also give some of the Affiliate bluebird landlords a hand with washing their houses in the fall, or setting up new houses.
Bluebird Trail Maintenance Through The Year.
Winter … All of the trails are inspected. Any damaged houses are repaired, or replaced. Soiled or wet Pine Straw beds are replaced. Birdhouses that were taken over by House Wrens, are moved to more open locations, far from any shrubs or trees. Any houses that were not washed in the Fall are washed. Broken hunting perches are replaced. Deceased birds are removed from the houses.
The broken, damaged houses houses are taken apart. Any decent piece of wood is washed. I build and paint ‘new’ houses. ( These houses contain very little new wood. They are mostly made of good pieces from old birdhouses, & scraps of wood, left-over from friend’s wood-working projects.)
late Winter & early Spring … All of the birdhouse posts are regreased. (This prevents predation from Raccoons, Possums and other predators.) Any deceased birds are removed from the houses. We apply Mint oil to the interior of the mice-prone houses, using cotton-balls. The smell of the Mint Oil repels the mice, but does not bother the birds.
Spring & Summer … Most of us monitor, every 5 to 8 days. (Monitoring can be very irregular in April and May, due to rainy days.) As soon as the young Bluebirds, or Tree Swallows fledge, their nests are removed. A new bed of Pine straw is set in place.
Fall … Houses are washed out. The inspection doors are left open for a few hours, to allow the interior to dry. A few hours later, when the interior is dry, a fresh bed of Pine Straw is set in place, & the inspection door is closed. Also, during the Fall, a list is made, of which houses need repairing or relocating. Houses that are prone to mice invasions, are left propped open for the Winter.
Late Fall & early Winter … I collect the nesting statistics from all of the Bluebird And Tree Swallow landlords that I know, in Essex County. This includes our Bluebird Committee members & the Affiliate Bluebird landlords. Nowadays, I do this with e-mails. Some of the Bluebird landlords do not have computers, so I call them on the phone. (In the olden days, I mailed out a 1 page questionnaire to all of the Bluebird landlords and the Bluebird trail monitors. They filled out the questionnaire & mailed it back to me.) I make a statistic chart, & e-mail this chart back to the people who responded. Also, I send a copy to the Ontario Eastern Bluebird society.
The Bluebird Committee is run totally on available Grants, a portion of what is raised through the Great Canadian Birdathon, and donations. If you want to donate money directly to the Bluebird Committee please send a check to Essex County Field Naturalists Club c/o 5200 Matchette Rd. Windsor, Ontario N9C 4C8 (put in memo line-Bluebird Committee). Or through our website essexcountynature.com under membership there is a donation box through Canada Helps, just direct the donation to the Bluebird Committee. Thank you.
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