When and how often do I check the boxes?
When: Monitoring runs from early April through the end of August. In February or early March, get your nest boxes set up or cleaned up and ready for the season, gather up your supplies and prepare your data collection notebook. Sign up and let us know you'll be monitoring and add your location to the Loudoun trails map.

How: A standard monitoring protocol is used at all of our trails. The data collection forms should be kept in a binder at your trail along with the monitoring equipment so you have easy access to it each week. All of the forms and other information that you need can be found here.

What do I do with the data?
By September 15, tally up your trail data on the End of Season Summary form and send it in to the Bluebird Monitoring Program Coordinator. We'll compile it along with the rest of the trail data and send it in to the Virginia Bluebird Society.

Staying Connected
Throughout the season, volunteers monitoring Loudoun trails post to the Discussion Forum what they have seen that week along the trail and ask and answer questions. It's a nice way to hear from others who went out into the field, peeking in nestboxes and share our knowledge.

Then, at the end of the season, we hold our End of Season Celebration. During this event, the Bluebird Monitoring Program Coordinator presents the data from all the trails, we share stories and photographs from the field, ask and answer questions and get to know each other.