How to build a bluebird box. Photo courtesy of Quinte Conservation.
By Michelle Poirier [1]
BELLEVILLE – Quinte Conservation [2] is encouraging people to build bluebird boxes for spring in their most recent Envirominute podcast [3].
The number of bluebirds has declined over the years in the Quinte region due to competition over nesting sites, according to the podcast [4].
“Bluebirds, once as common as robins are today, had all but disappeared entirely from the Quinte area,” said Curtis Vance, the graphic information system technician at Quinte Conservation, in the podcast.
It was in the early 1950s, when the land started to be cleared for housing and industrial developments, that the bluebirds started to disappear, he said.
“Bluebirds like open areas, like old orchards and rail fences,” Vance said.
Grassy open areas with mature trees, hay fields, large well kept lawns and pasture fields are the best habitat for bluebirds, according to Quinte Conservation’s information sheet [5] on bluebirds.
These boxes help the birds nest and the bird box programs could lead to an increased bluebird population in the Quinte region, Vance said.
Bluebird boxes should ideally be made out of cedar or redwood, be well ventilated, watertight, have drainage holes, and easy to clean. They should never have have a perch and should have a round entrance hole, the information sheet said.
Quinte Conservation has listed instructions [5] on how to build your own bluebird box.