Vol. 36 No. 4 $5.00 Contents Fall Message to Our Affiliate Organizations -Phil Berry
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LUEBIRD BJOURNAL OF THE NORTH AMERICAN BLUEBIRD SOCIETY FALL 2014 VOL. 36 NO. 4 $5.00 www.shutterstock.com/FloridaStock Contents Fall Message to Our Affiliate Organizations - Phil Berry .................................................................................................... 1 From the President - Sherry Linn ............................................................................................................................................ 2 From the Managing Editor - Scott W. Gillihan ........................................................................................................................ 3 Letters to Bluebird ...................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Notices from NABS .................................................................................................................................................................. 4 Battle of the Bluebirds - Renée A. Duckworth and Alexander V. Badyaev ............................................................................ 6 NABS Awards in Boise, Idaho – June 13th, 2014 - Sherry Linn ......................................................................................... 9 The Nanaimo Boy: A Cowichan Valley Bluebird Story - Jemma Green ........................................................................ 10 Photo Gallery ........................................................................................................................................................................... 13 Where Do They Go? - Kevin Corwin .................................................................................................................................... 15 Why Not Help Bluebirds While You Shop? - Bet Zimmerman Smith ............................................................................ 16 Stocking the Pantry: Providing Sustenance for Nesting Birds - Lee Pauser ................................................................. 18 One Dwarf Egg after Another - Ken Murray ...................................................................................................................... 20 Aerial Insectivores Showing Steep Declines - American Bird Conservancy ................................................................... 21 The Ivory-billed Woodpecker - John James Audubon ........................................................................................................ 23 BluesNews ................................................................................................................................................................................. 24 Cheer - Judith Moffett .............................................................................................................................................................. 25 Bluebirds Everywhere ............................................................................................................................................................. 25 Research Review - Scott W. Gillihan ....................................................................................................................................... 26 Index to Volume 36 .................................................................................................................................................................. 28 Affiliates of the North American Bluebird Society .......................................................................................................... 30 Cover photo: An early snowfall provided a unique autumn palette for Pennsylvania photographer Kathy Miller. See more of her photos at www.celticsunrise.com Table of Contents photo: Male Red-bellied Woodpecker in flight (www.shutterstock.com/FloridaStock). Fall Message to Our Affiliate Organizations Phil Berry f you missed NABS 2014 in Boise, Idaho, you missed a fun Itrip. We were checking Mountain Bluebird nests at the 9,000- foot level in the mountains around Boise. And we were led by a 92-year-old man. The Bluebird Man. We also had a screening BLUEBIRD of his new movie, which brought out a lot of local people. Bluebird/Sialia (ISSN 0890-7021) is published quarterly by North American And it is not too early to get prepared for NABS 2015, which Bluebird Society, Inc., P.O. Box 7844, will be held at the Baluchon Spa, in St-Paulin, Quebec. France Bloomington, IN 47407 and Andre Dion hosted us back in 1988 and have asked to host again. This will be a tribute to Lawrence Zeleny, as they were Printed by Sutherland Companies good friends. You won’t want to miss this one—mark your Montezuma, IA calendar for September 2015 in Quebec. Andre wrote the book The Return of the Bluebird. Managing Editor: Scott Gillihan [email protected] Also, let’s look ahead to 2016 in Lacombe, Alberta. Myrna Pearman is going to host us and already has an outline of what Subscription is included with membership we are gong to do. in NABS. Write for information about bulk quantities. Make checks and money orders Please send me any updates to your organization so that I payable to NABS in U.S. funds. may update our records. Once again, I encourage you to share your experiences with us via Bluebird, our quarterly magazine. Issues are dated Spring, Summer, Fall, We always encourage you to write an article. We know that and Winter and appear approximately you all have an annual meeting in your own area, and we are on the 15th day of January, April, July, interested in hearing about them. and October. Submissions are accepted continuously and published as space and Write something up and send it to Scott editorial constraints allow. Gillihan, our Managing Editor. He will get it into the next issue. Letters to the editor and articles in this publication express the opinions and/or I hope you all had a great bluebird year. positions of the authors. Submissions may I know we did here, with almost 300 be edited for length and content. Published new babies out there. articles do not necessarily represent the opinions and positions of the Officers, Sincerely, Directors, or other representatives of NABS. Phil Berry NABS Vice President - Affiliate Relations General questions may be addressed to: [email protected] or call 812-200-5700 during office hours (12–3 pm Eastern time Mon–Fri); messages can be left at any time. north american bluebird society saved the following resources by using 720 pounds of Reincarnation Matte, made with 60% post-consumer waste and manufactured with electricity that is offset with Green-e® certified The North American Bluebird Society, Inc. is a renewable energy certificates. north american bluebird society: 2,000 units non-profit education, conservation and research greenhouse trees water energy solid waste gases organization that promotes the recovery of 5 2132 2 135 473 bluebirds and other native cavity-nesting bird fully grown gallons Million BTUs pounds pounds species in North America. www.nabluebirdsociety.org www.nabluebirdsociety.org 1 Fall 2014 | Bluebird From the President Sherry Linn he nights are starting to cool off and sleeping 3,661 of us can’t be wrong!) And while talking Tbecomes comfortable again. You know fall is just about Facebook—the queries that once were the around the corner when you waken to the plaintive sole domain of our Hotline, handled so ably by Bob cry of the Say’s Phoebe as though she were saying Benson and his team of helpers, are now starting to goodbye. Bluebird families flit around the yard and migrate to Facebook. With help from experienced come less to the mealworm feeder. It’s as though people like Kathy Kremnitzer and Dan Sparks, folks they too know it won’t be long until they depart. I get quick responses to a variety of problems both hope your nesting season passed without too many privately and in the open forum. We all end up with sad events and that the joy of watching new life burst new ideas to combat nestbox or trail problems and forth revived your spirits and will carry you through to expand our knowledge while it reinforces the fact to next year. that what works in one place does not necessarily work in another – regardless of the proximity of the Many of us have fond memories of our time in locations. Boise for the NABS conference. I enjoyed seeing so many new faces while at the same time having Your NABS Board has been keeping busy and two full days to get to know them and renew old we thank you for sharing your ideas and staying acquaintances during the field trips. What a pleasure in close contact. We are looking at some possible to be among the members who have so many years ways we may take a larger role in addressing of experience in bluebird and native cavity-nesting trail management and have been asked about a bird conservation! Those present in Boise represented certification program. Our problem with undertaking a collective of many hundreds of years of nestbox these kinds of projects are manpower and funding. building, monitoring, and mentoring. The sharing With no staff or physical office to work from, and of stories and knowledge throughout the event covering the continent, this is the kind of opportunity and an opportunity to have an open Q&A after the for NABS to work more closely with our Affiliates. Friday evening showing of the documentary Bluebird Our Education Committee is looking at golf courses Man showed just how much we have to offer one with a view to compiling a handy reference guide another—regardless