1. BLUEBIRD BOXES

3. The Eastern Bluebird:

4. Cavity nesters Perchers- hunt for insects from above Will eat fruits/nuts in the winter Eastern bluebirds can be found in Montgomery County year-round BLUEBIRD BASICS

5. MATING BEHAVIORS TO LOOK FOR 1.Males attract females to their nest by carrying materials in and out of the nest (early March) 2.Pairs mate for several seasons 3.In one season a pair can raise 1-3 families 4.Look for hatchlings in April and July 5.Hatchlings take 17-21 days to leave the nest

6. BLUEBIRD NESTING CYCLE March  April SuMTuWThFSa 3456789 10111213141516 17181920212223 24252627282930 31123456 Nest Construction (2-6 days) Incubation (12-14 days) Eggs laid (5-7 days) Raising of young (17-18 days) Eggs hatch

7. WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? CONSERVATION Bluebirds are no longer threatened, thanks to the development of bluebird trails and boxes since the 1970s. It is important to continue this effort

8. 1.Build your bluebird box (with us) 2.Place your bluebird box at your school site 3.Become a certified NestWatch monitor 4.Enter your bluebird box as a site on the website 5.Begin monitoring your bluebird box! WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING? BLUEBIRD BOXES IN 5 EASY STEPS:

9. Open field or lawn – Scattered trees – Low ground cover – Entrance hole should face open field, preferring east, north, south, and then west-facing directions Place your box in early March WHERE TO PLACE YOUR BLUEBIRD BOX?

10. A national bird monitoring program designed to track status and trends in the reproductive biology of birds. Run through Cornell Lab of Ornithology Brings together separate nest watching activities across the country to create a comprehensive data collection center PROJECT NESTWATCH

14. YOUR NEST SITE

15. 1.Visit the nest once or twice a week 2.Approach nest; 1.Make presence known 2.Give birds time to leave nest (if they are sitting outside their nest and don’t leave, don’t visit) 3.Open nest and make observations of nest (keep it fast) – Date and time – Nest status – Young status – Adult status – Habitat observations 4.Minimize disturbance to the nest MONITORING YOUR BLUEBIRD BOX REVIEW THE NESTWATCH “CODE OF CONDUCT” BEFORE DOING ANY OBSERVATIONS!

16. COLLECTING YOUR DATA

17. YOUR NEST SITE

18. ENTERING YOUR DATA

19. HOW TO EXPLORE DATA The point of using NestWatch is so that the data you collect can be a part of a larger bluebird monitoring program. You have access to the information from other nests across the country through this website.

20. NESTWATCH MAP ROOM Shows you the distribution of blue bird nests across the country

21. NESTWATCH PROJECT WIDE DATA DOWNLOADS Allows you to download Excel spreadsheets with information on – Species summary: total number of nesting attempts, eggs, nestlings, and fledglings – Reproductive success – Raw Nesting Attempt Data- shows all of the data that has been reported for every nesting attempt submitted

22. http://nestwatch.org/ http://www.allaboutbirds.org- bluebird facts http://www.allaboutbirds.org- http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birding/eastern- bluebird/- bluebird facts http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birding/eastern- bluebird/- http://www.sialis.org/basics.htm- bluebird nesting cycle http://www.sialis.org/basics.htm- NestWatch Monitoring Manual (I can email this to you all or you can google it, it is the first link to come up) As always feel free to contact any of us with questions or concerns: Smith Center: 301-924-3123 Bill Kraegel: William_Kraegel@mcpsmd.org Jay Handzo: Jay_Handzo@mcpsmd.org Kiri Brenner: Kiri_M_Brenner@mcpsmd.org RESOURCES