The 2025 bluebird season begins soon! BCDC organizes one of the largest bluebird programs in Pennsylvania, mobilizing volunteers to monitor nearly 500 nestboxes around Delaware county. Coordinator Margaret Bue does excellent work in recruiting, training, and guiding volunteers, then compiling data and submitting reports to the Pennsylvania Bluebird Society and other entities. Monitors spend hours tracking nest-building, egg-laying, hatching, and fledgling success through weekly visits in the spring and summer.
Volunteer nestbox monitor responsibilities include:
* Visit the site once every 7-10 days, from April through August
* Track data including counting eggs, hatchings, and fledglings
* Deter House Sparrows
* Keep in touch with Coordinator and submit a final summary at the end of the season.
Training, materials, and ongoing support are provided.
We’re seeking a volunteer to monitor 14 boxes at Newlin Grist Mill this year, joining a wonderful crew of dedicated folks. If you or someone you know may be interested, please contact BirdingClubDelco@gmail.com – we’ll put you in touch with Margaret directly.
The 2024 bluebird season showed strong results – check-out the report below. The decades-long conservation and restoration of Eastern Bluebirds in Delaware County continues through the efforts of many dedicated and committed trail monitors and nest box builders. The Birding Club of Delaware County (BCDC) is pleased to support bluebird monitoring across the county. Each spring and summer, dozens of volunteer monitors fan out across the county to check their assigned bluebird trails. They visit boxes once a week to document details about nesting, egg-laying, hatching, chicks, and fledglings. The Delaware County coordinators, Margaret Bue and Frank Steinmiller, compile all data at the end of the season, and submit to the Bluebird Society of Pennsylvania for use in research, education, and influencing conservation priorities.
- The Birding Club of Delaware County (BCDC) supports the bluebird program, both financially and through its members. Numerous BCDC members participate in the seasonal monitoring and care of bluebirds and their nest boxes. BCDC has also provided financial support to an inventory of nest boxes used in the county.
- The Bluebird Society of Pennsylvania (BSP), founded in 1998, is a statewide organization whose mission is multifaceted, encompassing bluebird care and monitoring, research, and educational opportunities. Bluebird nest box data is collected annually in Delaware County and sent to BSP.
- Tyler Arboretum has been an essential and active partner in support of bluebird care in the county since program inception; the Arboretum identifies the bluebird activity to be its oldest volunteer program.
Note annual reports below provided to the Bluebird Society of Pennsylvania.
Acknowledgements: With great appreciation, BCDC recognizes the ongoing efforts of all Eastern Bluebird nest box monitors in Delaware County. We honor those who laid the foundation of the current efforts, and extend special thanks to:
- C.U. Atkinson, William Kent, and Bob Bodine – early participants of bluebird monitoring activity until 2006;
- Tom Reeves – longtime dedicated bluebird advocate and nest box monitor;
- Suzanne Clauser – ongoing organizer of the bluebird monitoring program at Tyler Arboretum;
- Alice Sevareid – Delaware County coordinator for the BSP from 2007 to 2020.
- Margaret Bue and Frank Steinmiller – Delaware County coordinators for the BSP from 2021 to present.
As active birders in Delaware County who happily encounter bluebirds on our bird walks, we find it is worth recalling the efforts of many individuals – past and present – who have successfully managed to increase the number of these beautiful birds in our area.
Historical background: Organized efforts to increase the population of Eastern Bluebirds in Delaware County began in the early 1970s. Through observation of bluebird behavior at various locations in the county, including Tyler Arboretum in Media, several people recognized the potential of encouraging nesting with the use of nest boxes. C.U. Atkinson began the endeavor by securing six nest boxes from Delaware Valley Ornithological Club (DVOC) and placing them directly onto tree trunks. By 1973, William Kent and Bob Bodine had taken on the nest box efforts at Tyler Arboretum and, by 1974, there were 28 nest boxes in place at Tyler Arboretum.