Bluebird Monitoring Public Trail

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Bluebird Monitoring: Public Trails

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“Be like the bluebird who never is blue,
For he knows from his upbringing what singing can do.”

- Cole Porter, Be Like the Bluebird, 1934

About the Trails... Our public trails are located at parks, preserves, schools and golf courses across Loudoun. They range in size from 6 boxes all the way up to 24. All of them have public access and places where we keep our supplies so that monitors have access to them each week. A map of our current trails and their locations can be found here.
When and how often do we check the boxes? When: Monitoring runs from early April through the end of August. Monitoring teams are formed in March in order to prepare the schedules and train new monitors. How: Each public trail has a monitoring team. Teams generally consist of 4 people per team so that each person monitors the trail one day per month. A standard monitoring protocol is used at all of our trails. The data collection forms are kept in a binder at the trail along with the monitoring equipment.
Time Commitment? One day per month from April through August, each monitor visits the trail. Monitoring a trail takes about 1-2 hours of time and generally takes place on a Saturday or Sunday although trails that established along golf courses, such as Brambleton and Algonkian may monitor on a Friday or Monday to avoid the crowds and golf ball hazards.
Supplies and Equipment Each trail has a Bluebird Bucket complete with the supplies needed to monitor the trail each week. New monitors are provided with an orientation of the trail by the trail leader or existing trail monitoring volunteer and is shown what do to with the various equipment and where to store it.
How do I get onto a trail team? Each February, we reach out to the previous years' monitors to find out who would like to monitor again and who needs to drop out. We also hold a Bluebird Monitoring Orientation Program for people interested in Bluebird Monitoring to find out more and volunteer for the coming season. When you sign up, we'll try to match you up with vacancies that are either on trails near where you live or on a trail that you specify. In some cases we may not be able to fit you to your first choice of locations but will try our best to make it work. By mid-March we try to have all the trail teams set up and in place so that new monitors can be trained and we can start monitoring.
Staying Connected Throughout the season, teams email each other or post to the Discussion Forum what they have seen that week along the trail. It's a nice way to hear from others who went out into the field, peeking in nestboxes. 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.