Loudoun Bluebird Monitoring Home Trail

Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy People and Wildlife Living in Harmony

Building Nestboxes and Setting Up Trails

Citizen Science Environmental Monitoring

“And when he sings to you, Though you're deep in blue, You will see a ray of light creep through,
And so remember this, life is no abyss, Somewhere there's a bluebird of happiness. Life is sweet, tender and complete, when you find the bluebird of happiness.”

- Bluebird of Happiness, lyrics by Edward Heyman & Harry Parr Davies, 1934

A Bit About the Nestbox Setup Through decades of monitoring and research, organizations like the North American Bluebird Society and Virginia Bluebird Society have zeroed in on the ideal nestbox setup that takes all possible precautions to protect the birds from predators while meeting the birds’ needs. It includes: - The Nestbox...NABS style, also called the Eastern Bluebird Box, is preferred although the Peterson style also works fine. NABS style (shown in the image to the right) is easier to build. The box has ventilation holes as well as drainage holes and a "ladder" inside the front panel underneath the hole. The roof is slanted to help with rain runoff. The hole is 1.5" diameter. Here are our favorite nestbox plans, with the door opening from the top, hinge at the bottom. - The Noel Guard...a piece of chicken wire bent into a rectangle and attached to the front of the box. This guard makes it so raccoons cannot reach their paws inside the box to eat eggs, fledglings or the brooding female. Here are plans for this guard. - The Stovepipe Guard...a critical guard that prevents snakes from climbing the pole and getting into the box while also deterring raccoons who cannot reach their arms around the guard to climb up. Made of a 8" round stovepipe with stovepipe cap. Attach a hose clamp to the pole just below where the bottom of the box will be, then slip the stovepipe over it. Here are plans for this guard. - The Pole...a 10' piece of 1/2" or 1" aluminum electrical conduit that you cut down to 8' and then driven into the ground 2 to 2 1/2 feet makes the ideal mount for this setup.	The Nestbox Setup
How Many Nestboxes Makes a Good Trail? It depends on the location. Boxes need to be spaced about 100' apart and they need to be about 20' from the tree line or brushy areas. On our public trails at parks and other large areas, we like to start with about 10-12 boxes. This makes for a nice number for the volunteers to monitors and gives us a chance to get to know the location, the habitat and the species there. This also is a great number for an Eagle Scout or school project.
Where Can We Set Up a New Trail? After you sign up, we'll work with you to find a location, get permission and stake out the box spots. We can also provide sample boxes and guards for you to look at while building the nestbox setups and answer any questions that you have. In addition to setting up new trails, there are also a number places around Loudoun where boxes were set up but not according to specs (e.g. too close together, no guards, not on poles, etc). In some cases, it means taking down old boxes and putting up new ones on poles and guards. In other cases, it means refurbishing boxes and respacing them along the trail.
What About a Smaller Project? If you're looking for a smaller project, perhaps with cub scouts, you might want to do a trail repair project. Each year we have a boxes along the trails that have worn out, developed cracked wood and need to be replaced. This is a smaller project but critical to maintaining the bluebird trails and great fun for younger kids to help with.