According to the Bermuda Audubon Society, the Eastern Bluebird is a native species of Bermuda. The island has the distinction of being the only location outside North America where the species breeds. While there was a time when you could sight a flock of fifty flying overhead, today the sighting of a single bird or a pair is a thrill.

The continual loss of critical habitat for sweet, beautiful bluebirds has placed them in peril. Fortunately, this is one environmental snafu man has contributed to that man can actually make right.

How, you might ask? By installing and maintaining bluebird nesting boxes across the island. If you have green space surrounding your home, office, club or school, please consider installing a box or perhaps even a Bluebird Trail.

Now is the time.

INSTALLING YOUR OWN BLUEBIRD BOX

Bluebird boxes should be in place no later than mid-March when bluebirds are looking for nesting sites. Ready made Boxes can be purchased through Bermuda Audubon and at Aberfeldy Nurseries. 

If you’re the handy sort, you can also build your own with all materials readily available at local hardware stores.

MOUNTING & MONITORING YOUR BLUEBIRD BOX

Once you have your Bluebird boxes ready to go, follow the instructions for thow to best mount and monitor the box which can be found in “Making a Bluebird Box” pdf available on the Bermuda Audubon website.

In addition to Bermuda Audubon, information and advice is also available through the Bermuda Bluebird Society.  They can help you put up a pole and install your box for a small fee and also assist with bluebird emergencies.

Once your box is up, maintenance is critical. Sparrows and starlings are major nest competitors evicting bluebirds from their nest sites, often killing chicks and adults in the process. So you should check your box frequently. This is easy to do as bluebird boxes are designed for easy access – typically just a case of removing a partially inserted nail that releases a side panel. Once the box is open, here’s what to look for:

• Bluebird nests are cup-shaped, tidy and typically made of woven grass or casuarina needles.
• A sparrow’s nest on the other hand is untidy and often strewn with trash.
• If you find an intruder in your box or the signs of one, shoo them away and remove their nests immediately.
  
  
  

This writer recently had first-hand experience with the importance of checking the boxes. For the past two months, we have had a pair of bluebirds visiting our garden on a regular basis – mostly hunting but occasionally sticking their heads in the nesting box we installed to attract them.  To my dismay, I’d also seen sparrows and starlings checking out the box and actually going in (the nerve) so I decided to peek inside. Approaching the box I could hear a commotion coming from within. When I opened the box a starling was sitting on a very untidy, half-built nest. She flew out and I then saw a downy, lifeless body shoved to one side. My heart sank. It turned out to be an adult sparrow – newly dead. It had received several blows to the shoulder and head area.  

The Bluebird’s survival in Bermuda is now totally dependent on man

I buried the hapless homemaker in the garden and have vowed to check the box every day for the next few months. It’s become a bit of an obsession. I enjoy prime viewing from my kitchen window and am taking my role as guardian quite seriously. Time will tell if my constant shooing of intruders results in a bluebird family residing in our garden. This morning my little blue pair are back and giving their potential home a thorough inspection. All fingers are crossed. While the success of this pair in this garden is not a certainty, the odds of survival for Bermuda’s bluebird population increases with each box that is installed and maintained.

Once your box is in place, you can register it on Nestwatch - a citizen science programme run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. You sign up, register your box and enter your monitoring information such as when the eggs appear, how many eggs, when they hatch, etc.  Bermuda Audubon is able to access that data which helps them understand the status of bluebirds on island. 

Please consider joining this critical conservation effort and set up a box soon.