A bluebird trail monitor makes sure her nestboxes are clean and in good repair. Bluebirds begin looking for nesting sites by late February.
What does a Bluebird Nestbox Monitor do?
The Monitor's job is to visit the nestboxes and report on activity during nesting season, which is from March through August. Ideally, the monitor visits the nestboxes on her/his "trail" at least once a week.
We want to know what species are using our nesting boxes and especially want to know if we are having success in attracting the Eastern Bluebird to our nestboxes.
In addition, the most critical job of the Monitors is to keep House Sparrows out of our nestboxes. Since this non-native species is majorly responsible for the bluebird not finding nesting cavities, we must be viligant in preventing House Sparrows from taking over our nestboxes. This is done by removing House Sparrow nests and eggs if they are found in our nestboxes.
Click here for Nestbox Monitor Instructions
Click here for BRSS Nesting Activity Form
We are now entering our nesting data into
Cornell’s NestWatch program
Resources:
How to enter NestWatch data on your computer