LUEBIRD BJOURNAL OF THE NORTH AMERICAN BLUEBIRD SOCIETY SUMMER2014 VOL. 36 NO. 3 $5.00 Andrew Morffew Andrew Contents Summer 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 The Mystery of the Pink Lady - Barbara Spagnuolo ............................................................................................................ 6 Eastern Bluebird Juvenile Helpers in Two Successive Seasons - Vickie L. Henderson ................................................... 8 Intervene or Put Me Back!? - Maureen Eiger ...................................................................................................................... 12 Photo Gallery ........................................................................................................................................................................... 13 Don’t Let Fire Ants Devour Nestlings: Use Tanglefoot in Southern States - Pauline Tom ........................................ 15 NABS Election Notice ............................................................................................................................................................ 16 NABS Election Ballots ...................................................................................................................................................... Insert Looking for Bird-Friendly Glass - American Bird Conservancy ......................................................................................... 17 Bringing Back the Burrowing Owl to British Columbia - Lauren Meads, Aimee Mitchell, Dawn Brodie, and Mike Mackintosh .................................................................................................................................................. 18 A Year in the Life of a Migratory Warbler - Lisa Petit ....................................................................................................... 20 Four and Twenty House Sparrows Baked in a Pie - Scott W. Gillihan ............................................................................. 23 Do No Harm - Bet Zimmerman Smith ................................................................................................................................. 25 Bluebirds Everywhere ............................................................................................................................................................. 26 BluesNews ................................................................................................................................................................................. 27 Research Review - Scott W. Gillihan ....................................................................................................................................... 28 Affiliates of the North American Bluebird Society .......................................................................................................... 30 Cover photo: Western Bluebird fledgling (Glenn Price/Shutterstock.com) Table of Contents photo: Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks are cavity-nesters found primarily in Texas and Florida. Andy Morffew captured this beautiful image near his home in Florida. To see more of his photos, visit www.andymorffew.com Summer Message to Our Affiliate Organizations Phil Berry y now we should all have plenty of bluebirds to take care Bof. We are between first and second nestings here, with over 100 fledged in our first nesting. We hope you have a great BLUEBIRD bluebird year. Bluebird/Sialia (ISSN 0890-7021) is Once again it is time to think about our annual convention, published quarterly by North American held this year in Boise, Idaho. We are also working on 2015 Bluebird Society, Inc., P.O. Box 7844, and 2016. Not certain for the 2015 location, but we do have a Bloomington, IN 47407 promise to host us. We have Myrna Pearman inviting us to Lacombe, Alberta for 2016. I am always looking for an Affiliate Printed by Sutherland Companies to host the group if any of you are interested. And no, it is not Montezuma, IA too early to start thinking about 2017. NABS will help with the finances if needed. Consider it an opportunity to showcase Managing Editor: Scott Gillihan your efforts to promote bluebirds and other cavity nesters. [email protected] Please send me any updates for your Affiliate as they occur so Subscription is included with membership that we can keep our records current. I have a few of you that I in NABS. Write for information about bulk do not have current email addresses or contact persons. quantities. Make checks and money orders payable to NABS in U.S. funds. I would also encourage any of you who have information to share to write it up and send it to Scott Gillihan, our editor. eW Issues are dated Spring, Summer, Fall, want to know how you handle problems in your area, and we and Winter and appear approximately just like to share the good things that happen as well. on the 15th day of January, April, July, and October. Submissions are accepted As I write this, I have my continuously and published as space and reservations made for Boise, Idaho editorial constraints allow. and I surely hope to see many of you there. If not, there’s always Letters to the editor and articles in this next year’s convention! publication express the opinions and/or positions of the authors. Letters may be Sincerely, edited for length and content. Published Phil Berry articles do not necessarily represent the NABS Vice President - Affiliate opinions and positions of the Officers, Relations Directors, or other representatives of NABS. 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 Summer 2014 | Bluebird From the President Sherry Linn ell the bluebirds are back and nesting is well Wunderway in British Columbia. For those This issue of Bluebird has information for two in Florida and other points south, you may even important processes that together help ensure the have your third nesting started by the time this proper governance of NABS—the Election and the goes to press! And as you read this, our 37th NABS Annual Meeting. Please show your support of the Conference in Boise, Idaho will be behind us. Where entire Board by taking a moment to fill out and mail does the time go? One thing is for sure—wonderful your ballot. Step two is marking your calendar to join memories follow the above events. us for the Annual Meeting later in September. Details have already been posted on our website home page Unlike previous years, this past spring did not see (www.nabluebirdsociety.org) in compliance with a quiet time for NABS. On behalf of our printer, the Bylaws. Sutherland Printing Inc. in Iowa, and the NABS Board, we apologize for the Any time of the year is a good technical error made on our time to “talk bluebirds” and label printing on the Spring Unlike previous years, other native cavity-nesting birds. journal. We posted notices this spring did not see a Over the past months I have had immediately on our website the good fortune to correspond home page and Facebook in an quiet time for NABS with many members and non- attempt to slow the responses members who have been out but they kept pouring in on working with school children, email, by phone, and in the regular mail. Thank you making presentations to gardening and service all for taking the time to let us know—better we get clubs, or getting corporate sponsorship of new several hundred queries than none at all—and all nestbox trails on public and private land. Whether have been answered. Looking for positives when the audience is new to learning of our conservation something like this happens can be tough, but we efforts or old hands just itching to share stories or quickly discovered that the last name and address learn what is working for others, these events are block were okay so everyone would at least get their always full of promise. Most recent for me was a journal. The second positive for me was the added visit to the North Okanagan Naturalist Club