An adult female brings food to her 5-day old nestlings inside one of the installed nestboxes.
We received a great update on the HCTF-funded Western Bluebird Reintroduction Project. It seems July has seen a number of hatchings, including the second clutches of 2013 for two of the re-introduced pairs! The spring hatchlings are now fully-fledged juveniles and are doing great: they can now hunt for wild insects on their own, and will likely help their parents with the feeding of their newly-arrived siblings. GOERT’s Julia Daly and Species-at-Risk biologist Trudy Chatwin estimate that there are over 38 Western Bluebirds flying about the Cowichan Valley these days, which includes all the juveniles and nesting parents.
Thanks to GOERT for supplying the following photos to show us how the birds are doing.
The Western Bluebird was once a common site on Vancouver Island. This brilliantly-coloured bird species thrived here and on the neighbouring Gulf Islands until the 1950’s, when their numbers began to steadily decline. By the 1990s, bluebirds were no longer breeding in southwestern BC, and were soon considered to be extirpated (locally extinct).
What caused this once prolific species to disappear? The primary factor is likely habitat loss. Bluebirds are secondary cavity nesters, meaning they rely on holes left by woodpeckers in standing deadwood to build their nests. If most of these dead trees are removed (either through logging practices or urban development), the birds are left with little in the way of natural nesting habitat. Bluebirds face steep competition for the few remaining cavities, as these are also sought after by introduced species such as starlings and house sparrows.
Human activity has undoubtedly impacted the bluebirds’ distribution, but there is good reason to believe that human intervention will help return the species to its former range. The Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team is working to restore self-sustaining Western Bluebird populations on Vancouver Island and the Southern Gulf Islands through the HCTF-funded Bring Back the Bluebirds project. The project team has been translocating breeding pairs to the Cowichan Valley and creating habitat for them by mounting nestboxes in prime foraging locations. The first year of the project (2012) resulted in the successful fledging of the first bluebirds known to have hatched on Vancouver Island since 1995. The project plans to translocate a total of 90 adult bluebirds over the course of 5 years.
The following video by Shaw TV provides an overview of the project, including footage of a pair of bluebirds being released from their aviary at Cowichan Garry Oak Preserve.
Want to be involved in this project? Visit GOERT’s website to learn how to identify Western Bluebirds, report bluebird sightings, or get information about nestbox hosting or monitoring programs.
On April 12th, Lynne Bonner and Jane Algard visited Ladner to do a project site evaluation on the “Provision of Waterfowl and Raptor Habitat within Managed Grasslands on Lower Fraser River Farmland” project. Christine Terpsma of the Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust took us on a tour of farmlands that are under stewardship agreements in the Ladner/Delta area near Vancouver. HCTF funding ensures local farmers plant winter cover crops (for waterfowl) and grassland set-asides (for raptors) to provide a diversity of habitats for wildlife.
We saw the evidence of success: some winter cover crops were eaten down to bare ground, we spotted a number of hunting northern harriers in the set-asides, and hundreds of snow geese landed in a field next to us. As an added bonus – we sighted three snowy owls! Thanks Christine, for your time and your enthusiasm for wildlife conservation.
![1-536-bluebird-juveniles-feeding-station.jpg](https://hctf.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1-536-bluebird-juveniles-feeding-station.jpg "Juveniles bluebirds, now 6.5 weeks old, are now able to hunt insects on their own, but still enjoy a once-a-day supplement of mealworms. These "teenagers" from the first clutch will likely help their parents feed their newly-hatched younger siblings.")
