Many years ago, I heard talk of the fact that there were Bluebirds here in the Niagara Peninsula, but I had never seen one. I had seen pictures of them and thought that they were a beautiful bird. I had heard of this one man that had a bluebird trail, but that he had given it up.

Occasional I would see a bluebird nest box, but never the bird itself, even though I kept an eye open for them. As I had always been interested in nature and especially birds, I decided to find out more about the bluebirds.

During my research on them, I learned quite a bit. I found out that due to urban sprawl, the population of these birds went down due to lack of nesting sites and possibly other reasons. They liked to nest in the holes that were in a lot of the apple trees and wooden fence posts around the country, but due to the urban sprawl these nest sites disappeared.

To combat this decline in their numbers, it was suggested to put up bird houses just for the bluebirds. During my research, I found out that they were a bird that liked the open countryside. As I live in town, I realized that if I wanted to see and help them out, I would have to put up birdhouses in the country where they would most likely be found. It was then that I decided that I would like to establish a Bluebird Trail.

So, what is a Bluebird Trail, you say? This term is used to describe the fact of establishing a large quantity of bluebird houses over a large area in the country such as farms, golf courses or open fields. Going out and putting up a birdhouse here and there for the summer is not enough, as each birdhouse has to be monitored closely, especially during the peak nesting season.

During a drive around my area, looking for the best places to start a Bluebird Trail I drove past the “I CAN T.E.R.” farm. Suddenly I stopped and looked at what was here to see. The sign at the gate enlightened me a bit as to what kind of farm this was. I CAN Therapeutic Equestrian Riding.

I thought to myself that it must be a riding stable of some sort.

Driving in, I was greeted by the owner Diane, and she told me what the place was all about. It is used to have children with mental and physical disabilities ride horses with trained personnel at their side to overcome some of their difficulties in life. Also as a school in training students to learn about horses and their care, so they can go on to a job in that line on farms and race track facilities, etc.

They also have a summer camp programmed for children.

When I told her that I was interested in establishing a Bluebird Trail, she welcomed me with open arms. I found out that she was well versed on the Bluebirds and had some nest boxes there on the farm. Later I found there were seven houses mounted on fence posts, but they were all in one row on adjacent posts. Good for sparrows, but not for bluebirds. I decided that these and others on the 87 acre farm had to be properly distributed and mounted properly. That was in 2002. Over the next three years I was kept busy monitoring and building new birdhouses for the bluebirds and other birds, but I was only able to see one bluebird, the first that I had ever seen.

In 2006, which was last year, I was checking the nest boxes when I opened one and was surprised and happy to see three blue eggs in there.

I was so happy to finally see all my work after all these years, starting to produce what I wanted so badly. A check the next day and I found another egg in there. Then three days later when I checked, I was able to see and photograph the last of the five eggs in the nest box.

It would take 21 days for those eggs to be hatched out with the warmth from the parent birds body.

Here, you can see two bluebirds at a bluebird type nesting box. The bright colored one on the right is the male. The female is to the left of the nesting box. Usually the nest boxes are mounted so that the opening is facing in a south easterly direction, to give the birds inside protection from cold windy days.

During the nesting season, as I monitored the nest boxes I found one that had been molested by an unknown intruder and four of the six eggs that had been in it were missing. The parent birds had abandon the nest box.

This is one thing that can happen and you take whatever precautions to protect the nest boxes and birds.

One of the things that I found that I had to do, was to eradicate any house sparrow nests that were in these nest boxes. As house sparrows are not a protected species of birds, if I was able to catch a sparrow as I was in the process of cleaning out the nest box, I tried to be sure that it would not be around to build another nest.

I often found tree swallow eggs in the nesting boxes, so I would leave them alone, as they are a protected species of bird. If I were to destroy these eggs, I would be breaking the law, so I left them as I found them.

As time went on, I found that my first nesting of eggs had hatched and I had five healthy and hungry birds. I tried not to disturb this nest box too much.

On my last checking of this nest box, I was still able to count out the five baby birds in there. I was able to see their pin feathers starting to emerge and they were a definite blue colour. They were definitely baby bluebirds.

Due to my efforts, and that of Diane providing the suitable location, we had provided a safe nesting place for the birthing of five new baby bluebirds. In a matter of a few more weeks, they would be able to leave the nest and fly off into the bright sunshine and perhaps return to their nesting area next year to start a family of their own.

In the meantime, there would be people who would spot them and say, isn’t that a beautiful bird.

In all, I was able to have eleven baby birds that reached maturity to fledgling stage and start out life on the outside of the nest boxes. I felt like a very proud parent to those new born birds.