BECAUSE YOU ASKED
Q: For years I’ve wondered about the (bird?) boxes on fence posts all along our highways. Does it happen to be random and coincidental they are everywhere? Or, was it part of a program, and is there a specific bird that is being targeted, and what are the results? U.S. 285 and 160 are mainly the highways I’m referring to.
A: You are probably seeing “nest boxes” that are part of the Colorado Bluebird Project, although there are some other groups and individuals that monitor other birds.
One of the main focuses of the Bluebird Project was to build a line of boxes making a state trail, which started at Julesburg and wound around to Estes Park, South Park, Conifer, down to the Durango area, up to Grand Junction and toward Utah.
Inside the boxes, the birds build a nest and raise their young during nesting season. Once the babies are grown, the boxes are no longer used. Other birds such as swallows, chickadees and ash-throated flycatchers also might use the boxes.
The boxes are monitored by volunteers, who open up the box and record what is going on. The number of eggs, dates eggs are laid, how many chicks are hatched and how many chicks leave are all documented.
The information is shared with Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology, which has a nationwide database on nest-box production. Researchers there use the information as well as other documentation from all across the country.
The Colorado Audubon Society has an educational project in which grade-school children help build the boxes. And recently, the Colorado Division of Wildlife’s volunteer project has begun helping with the project.
For more information, go to audubondenver.org/bluebird.htm or wildlife.state.co.us /Volunteer/Opportunities/BluebirdProject.htm.
Sources: Kevin Corwin, chairman of Colorado Bluebird Project Committee; Colorado Audubon Society
– Compiled by Bonnie Gilbert
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