Why Monitor Eastern Bluebird Nest Boxes?
[Back] In Wisconsin, Eastern Bluebirds have traditionally never been abundant because good habitat is lacking in the state. But in the late 1960’s, 1970’s and early 1980’s, Breeding Bird Surveys done by the USGS on the same stretches of roadway on a yearly basis, started revealing alarming drops in what bluebird populations we had (partly due to severe weather in 1976-77 on their overwintering grounds [Davis & Roca 1995]; see Table 1). The other three main cavity nesters (chickadees, swallows & wrens) did not show a similar drop in population. Armed with this information, the WDNR approached citizen groups around the state to attempt to stimulate an interest in an artificial nest box program to “bring back” this imperiled species. The Bureau of Endangered Resources of the WDNR called a meeting at Schmeeckle Reserve in Stevens Point in February of 1986 (Don Bragg, WDNR Retired, Personal Communication). As a result of this meeting, the Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin (BRAW)
