Nesting Chores and Wars, Part 4 - Bluebird Boxes

For years Ed Jylkka's hand-crafted nesting boxes have intrigued both people and birds at Halibut Point State Park. 

Tufted Titmouse

Ed experimented with designs and locations. The ultimate guest would be a bluebird, which he had succeeded in accommodating at another Rockport location with open meadows.

Great Crested Flycatcher investigating

All sorts of birds considered the possibilities, but the only regular nesting occupants were House Wrens and Tree Swallows.

Tree Swallow with tidbit

Many Park visitors found those domestic entertainments satisfying enough.

Blue Jay

Ed's construction dimensions favored certain cavity nesters and kept marauders at bay.

Bluebird in a tantalizing visit, May 2018

Once in a while a bluebird might make an appearance at Halibut Point, but never in a settled, family way. This year Park Interpreter Ramona Latham and ardent birder Ann Banks decided to make a concerted go of it as potential bluebird landlords. Park Supervisor Mark Peterson installed posts and predator guards for four new, bluebird-designated nesting boxes.

Tree Swallow

Tree Swallows, forced out of the nearby Purple Martin gourds by feisty House Sparrows, saw opportunities in the new boxes and began arriving with nesting material.

House Wren

House Wrens made repeated attempts to claim the boxes for their own.

Ann made the rounds at least a couple of times a week evicting interlopers all through the spring and early summer, following a management plan based on Ramona's previous success in hosting bluebirds at the Trustees of Reservations sanctuary on Coolidge Point, Manchester. That success didn't come until the second year and a steady effort of cleaning out nesting efforts by other species until the bluebirds came on the scene.

Eastern Bluebird

Having caught our fancy in the ever-shifting contests of nature, bluebirds will need determined supporters to establish a breeding population at Halibut Point. The management team expects to be ready with encouragement and strict intervention early next season. It may not be nature's way, but it may bring a delightful result. The bluebirds will have human allies in their nesting chores and wars.