Bring Back the Bluebirds
Project Overview
"Habitat" by Verna Linney
Once a common species within Garry oak ecosystems on Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands, Western Bluebirds (Sialia mexicana) thrived until the 1950s, when their numbers began to decline. Since 1995, they have not been known to nest successfully in this region, and are considered extirpated (locally extinct). Some possible reasons for their absence include loss of Garry oak habitat, removal of standing dead trees, competition for nest holes with exotic bird species such as European Starlings and English House Sparrows, and the reduction of insect prey due to pesticide use. Probably the greatest factor in their decline is urban development.
Western Bluebirds are secondary cavity nesters, meaning that they cannot build their own nest cavities, and depend on old woodpecker cavities, deadwood or nestboxes.
The Bring Back the Bluebirds Project is a five-year project that aims to re-establish a self-sustaining breeding population of Western Bluebirds on southeastern Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands (the "Salish Sea" area). In 2013, Year 2 of the project, we are bringing 10 pairs of Western Bluebirds to the Cowichan Valley, some of them with nestlings. Please follow us on facebook and twitter for the latest news. We've had a great start to this project and we welcome your support!
Our Project Overview and Year One Summary (PDF) are available for download.
Watch an excellent 3-minute summary of the bluebird project and witness a pair of bluebirds being released from their aviary at Cowichan Garry Oak Preserve (Shaw TV Duncan, summer 2012)
GOERT staff members Kathryn Martell and Dawn Fizzard traveled to San Juan Island in summer 2011 to learn about the San Juan Islands Western Bluebird Re-introduction Project, and Kathryn was interviewed on Northwest News about the GOERT project. Note that the mealworms were placed on top of the nestbox to attract the birds for filming purposes. This is not normal practice! (from NWCN.com)
Think you’ve seen a bluebird?
To help confirm your sighting, learn more about Western Bluebirds and similar birds at the All About Birds website, or download our Tips for Identifying Western Bluebirds (PDF). Note that All About Birds' conservation status of ‘least concern’ for Western Bluebirds is for the US regions, not BC. Please report sightings immediately to us at bluebird@goert.ca or 250-383-3427. Thank you!
Won’t you be my neighbour?
Host a Nestbox
An example of suitable rural habitat for Western Bluebirds (photo by Elyse Portal)
An example of suitable natural habitat for Western Bluebirds (Mt. Tzuhalem Ecological Reserve near Duncan; photo by Carolyn Masson)
- Nestbox site selection (2MB PDF)
- Nestbox placement and mounting (1MB PDF)
This is how our nestbox program works: we provide and mount the nestboxes, and work with landowners to track the use and success of nestboxes over time, building our knowledge about Western Bluebird habitat use and population growth. The information we gather about individual nestboxes helps us to learn how to better place and maintain this critical habitat element for native cavity-nesting birds.
If you’d like to build and mount your own nestboxes without being part of our structured project, it’s very important that your boxes be properly built and mounted in suitable locations. First, please read "nestbox site selection" (above), and use the plans for building nestboxes given below. The "nestbox placement and mounting" instructions will help you to mount your nestboxes properly and in appropriate places.
Nestbox Monitoring
Our nestbox hosts monitor the boxes on their property for bird activity during bluebird season (February through September), 1–2 times per month (more often if bluebirds are found), and report back to us. Training and support are provided. Some of your activities would be:
- Checking nestboxes on a regular basis during bluebird season
- Recording observations and notifying us if you see bluebirds
- Cleaning out nestboxes at the end of the season
- Communicating with us about findings
Read our Nestbox host FAQs (PDF), and also the following documents help with nestbox monitoring:
- Tips for Identifying Western Bluebirds (PDF)
- Nest identification key (1MB PDF)
- Nestbox monitoring protocol (PDF)
- Monitoring data sheet (PDF)
- Monitoring data sheet (MS Word)
Build a Nestbox
Are you handy with a hammer? Would you like to build a nestbox for us? If so, download the nestbox plans here. Please work with us to place the nestbox in suitable habitat. Placing a nestbox in unsuitable habitat could be harmful to Western Bluebirds or other native birds.
Project Partners
Bring Back the Bluebirds is led by the Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team, with partners Ecostudies Institute, Province of BC, Nature Conservancy of Canada, and the Cowichan Valley Naturalists.
Additional partners include: American Bird Conservancy, Joint Base Lewis-McChord (Jim Lynch), Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium (Dr. Karen Wolf), Rocky Point Bird Observatory, Salt Spring Island Conservancy, San Juan Preservation Trust, and Victoria Natural History Society. Also Environment Canada (Canadian Wildlife Service), Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Project Funders
Funders for Year 2 of the project include: The Baillie Fund, Canadian Wildlife Federation, EcoAction, Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation, Parks Canada, TD Friends of the Environment, Vancouver Foundation, Victoria Natural History Society, and private donors.
Support the Bring Back the Bluebirds Project
Please contact us about this initiative at bluebird@goert.ca or 250-383-3427, or donate to support our work. You can specify that funds are for the bluebird project.
Biologist Trudy Chatwin, Chair of our Vertebrates at Risk RIG, monitors a Western Bluebird nestbox in a Garry Oak woodland (photo by Shyanne Smith)