The bluebirds win…

Finding their way home...

The September update for the bluebird project is posted on the San Juan Preservation Trust site…it’s going great!

Just heard that we (that would be the bluebirds & their friends) just received a $24K grant – here’s more from Barb Jensen & the Audubon Society:

We want to send a big and I mean BIG THANK YOU to all who voted to fund the San Juan Islands Western Bluebird Reintroduction Project from the Boise Zoo. We won!  This is a $24,000 grant that will really help the birds.

A good deal of the funds the last few years have gone into hiring a technician who puts up boxes, helps clean them, monitors the boxes for chicks, bands birds, answers phone calls, sets up and takes down aviaries, feeds birds in aviaries, releases birds, talks to land owners and others while out  in the field and lots of other things that volunteers just don’t have the time to do. It also helps with travel, other costs for biologists, box materials, meetings and much more.

And what did we get for all the effort? I asked our biologist Gary Slater for some data to tell us.

In 2010:
· Monitored 12 breeding territories and found found 24 nests, of which 17 (71%) were successful (Table 2).

· Banded 84 nestlings and believe all successfully fledged from the nest (3.5 young/nest; 95% CI: 2.46-4.54)

· 16 adults returned this year, 10 that were adults and 6 that were juveniles in 2009.

· The average return rate appears pretty similar to natural populations

· We found 4 unbanded birds, 3 females and 1 male. These individuals represent individuals that immigrated from other populations or offspring from territories that were not found.

· There was not one area that was more successful than another – everywhere has been really successful!

· Every pair had more than one clutch. This year, we also had 2 pairs that had 3 clutches!!!

So, keep in mind there might have been birds we missed (some folks do not want us to know or go on their land and it does not help in determining how successful the project is – at least they can enjoy the birds).

So this year if you have enjoyed seeing Western Bluebirds or hope to see them in the coming years, please consider a donation to the project (we always need funds and the Boise Zoo grant only covers some of the expense). I would love that we could match the grant money in donations – I can dream, can’t I? So think Bluebirds this Christmas & make a holiday donation to this amazing project.

Feel free to email me or call (378-3068) if you have questions or ways you would like to help.

Consider joining our Audubon chapter. It is only for our chapter and not National Audubon (we receive 100% of your donation).

Cheers,
Barbara Jensen, President
San Juan Islands Audubon

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