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03/13/2007: "Bluebirds Re-Introduced To San Juan County"

While Western Bluebirds were once common in San Juan County, the population all but disappeared in the 1960s..Now there is a serious and coordinated effort to re-introduce the birds into the county, and over the weekend four pairs of Bluebirds were released (photo left) on San Juan island.

Four partners are working to re-introduce these beautiful birds by trapping mated pairs living at Fort Lewis, bringing them to San Juan Island, and after a couple of days living and eating in an aviary, the top of the aviary is opened, freeing the birds into their new territory. Hopefully the birds will adapt to their new surroundings, and to make it as easy as possible, nesting boxes have been built for the birds.

The SJ Island Audubon society -as well as others in the community- have placed boxes designed and constructed specifically for Bluebirds.. The box sites they have placed will be monitored for signs of occupancy, and they are asking others who may have installed boxes to contact SJI Audubon ( skylark@rockisland.com ), so that they may include the locations into a data base of nesting information.



At an Environmental Forum at Pelindaba Downtown, Barbara Jensen of the San Juan Islands Audubon, Kathleen Foley of San Juan Preservation Trust , Bob Altman of the American Bird Conservancy American Bird Conservancy and Gary Slater with Ecostudies Institute , gave a presentation and discussion on issues on the current status of Western Bluebirds, handed out material on how to properly construct and place a nesting box, and announced that over the weekend the four pairs of Bluebirds would be released in the San Juan Valley. (Photo by Nan Moore)

When the birds were released, they flew up into the branches of the Oak trees, then few around a bit as a small group watched from a distance. Soon the birds were lost to sight in the light rain and overcast sky. Meal bug worms, one of the favorite foods of the Bluebird, were put out in hopes the birds would stay in the area and take up residence in one of the many nesting boxes that had been located on the oak trees in the area.

Barbara Jensen may be contacted ( skylark@rockisland.com) to learn more about, or to become involved, in the program. For general information on Bluebirds, including how to build a nesting box, there are a large number of sites on the web; and one of the best nesting box designs can be found on the North American Bluebird Society (NABS) website