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| A bluebird nest box with the Ziibiwing Center in the background |
Yesterday afternoon I stopped at the Ziibiwing Center to install a new bluebird trail. A bluebird trail is simply a series of nesting boxes arranged in some sort of pattern. This will be the fourth bluebird trail that I have installed. The others are at the Saginaw Chippewa Academy, Winn Elementary, and the Morey Public School Academy. I maintain the boxes at SCA, the other boxes are maintained by teachers at the schools.
Why install bluebird trail at the Ziibiwing Center? First, the Ziibiwing Center is the host site for our annual International Migratory Bird Day Celebration and I thought this would be a great addition to this year's celebration. (This year's Bird Day is scheduled for Saturday May 14th - more information will come soon.) Second, the Ziibiwing Center is surrounded by open grassy fields - good habitat for bluebirds. Finally, I have worked with the Ziibiwing staff on a number of projects over the years and though this was a great way to say thank you for their assistance.
I also want to say thanks to Heather Shaw (wildlife biologist for the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe) for helping me install the boxes. If you want to learn a little more about Heather and the work she does, check out this post from August 2015.
In total, we placed seven boxes around the perimeter of the Ziibiwing Center. I plan on going back and adding at least one more box. There is also the potential to add some boxes at the nearby Andahwod senior center. While putting up the boxes, we were able to watch hawks hunting in the surrounding fields and I think I saw an Eastern Meadowlark at one point. I expect both Eastern Bluebirds and Tree Swallows will find these nesting boxes and make use of them in the upcoming years.
For plans to build a bluebird nesting box of your own, look here.
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