Spring Cleaning and Housing Additions at Stone Park

Although it may not feel like spring just yet, it is just around the corner. And everyone knows what happens when spring comes – spring cleaning! The first thing on our cleaning list was the bluebird nestboxes here at the park. There are 20 established nest boxes scattered throughout the approximate 1600 acres, and recently Chris and I cleaned them all out. In most cases this just involved taking old nesting material out (and sometimes an old wasp nest). However, in one box Chris was in for quite a surprise, when she opened it and encountered a mouse family! I guess that goes to show that we are being presumptuous when we call them bluebird nestboxes, because the mice seem to have made it a cozy home for themselves!

 

 The removal of old nesting material is necessary because most bluebirds do not remove old nesting material. They do sometimes nest on top of old nests, but this can increase the likelihood of disease and parasites. The old nests are usually quite flat the end of the breeding season and covered in feces and feather dander. Old nests also are more likely to attract ants. No one would want to come home to a mess like that after a long winter vacation!  

Along with cleaning out the already established boxes, we also added 3 more boxes to the park. One of them was added to a piece of more recently acquired land on the southernmost part of the park. It was placed on a cedar tree that had been topped and stripped of all of its limbs. The other 2 were placed at Spirit Knoll, a 220 acre State Preserve 3 miles north of Stone Park.

  Now that the houses are clean and ready to be inhabited, it is up to the bluebirds to take over the work. Throughout March and early April we hope to be seeing lots of bluebirds choosing this season’s home and making them nice and cozy for their new families. We are also excited to see how well they like the locations we chose for the newest boxes  You are more than welcome to come help us keep an eye out for bluebirds with their bills full of nesting material.

 - S.H.