The Elson Bluebird Trail
By: Lisa Takats

Elson and his BluebirdWe thought we knew what we were taking on. Elson had been working with bluebirds since 1995, adding new boxes each year, expanding his network, checking them, banding the young, and working on catching the adults. We thought we could handle it . . . we were wrong. According to the records that were passed on to us, Elson Olorenshaw maintained 405 nest boxes east of Edmonton, near Elk Island, Beaverhill Lake, and Fort Saskatchewan!!


In remembrance of Elson, the Beaverhill Bird Observatory will be maintaining the Elson Bluebird Trail with the help of volunteers. The following are the results of Elson's work in 2002, which he was unable to report, and a short report of our results in 2003.

2002 Results - Elson Olorenshaw
In 2002, 125 Telus cans and 278 nest boxes were monitored. Only 62 nest sites remained vacant. A record 681 young Mountain Bluebirds fledged and 637 of these were banded. There were also two adult male and 17 adult female bluebirds banded. Table 1: Results from 2002 monitoring of nest boxes (multiple visits).

Location
(No. of boxes)
Vacant
Mountain
Bluebirds
Tree
Swallows
House
Wrens
House
Sparrows
East Telus (111 cans)
13
-3 nests -1 second nest -20 young fledge
-95 nests -488 young fledge
0
-1 nest -4 young fledge
West Telus (14 cans)
2
0
-9 nests -30 young fledge
-2 nests -10 young fledge
-1 nest (3 eggs) -unknown fate
Elk Island North
(56 boxes)
7
-16 nest -18 second nests -163 young fledge
-28 nests -129 young fledge
-2 nests -4 young fledge
-1 nest (5 eggs) -unknown fate
Elk Island West
(34 boxes)
1
-5 nests -9 second nests -71 young fledge
-22 nests -119 young fledge
-1 nest -4 young fledge
-1 nest -5 young
Elk Island East (120 boxes)
22
-20 nests -38 second nests -245 young fledge
-55 nests -279 young fledge
0
-5 nests -13 young
East Fort Sask. (62 boxes)
15
-16 nests -24 second nests -172 young fledge
-19 nests -87 young fledge
-1 nest -4 second nests -23 young fledge
-1 nest (5 eggs) -unknown fate
Beaverhill South
(16 boxes)
2
-1 nest -1 second nest -10 young fledge
-3 nests -10 young fledge
0
0
Total (403)
62
-152 nests -681 young
-231 nests -1142 young
-10 nests -41 young
-10 nests


Of the 820 bluebird eggs that were laid, 718 hatched (87.6%), and 681 young fledged (83.0%). There were also 1142 young Tree Swallows and 41 young House Wrens that successfully fledged. 2003 Results - Lisa Priestley

Thanks to a team of dedicated volunteers, we managed to visit 262 of the 286 nest boxes, but were not able to visit the Telus cans. We found 55 bluebird, 88 Tree Swallow, 29 House Wren, and 11 House Sparrow nests. There were 66 nest boxes vacant in 2003.

We found many failed nests, with dead adults, young, and eggs. This was most likely due to a late winter snowstorm that reduced the food availability for nesting birds. A visit to Ellis Bird Farm (Bluebird group) during the summer also confirmed this finding throughout central Alberta. One of the more interesting finds was a family of Deer Mice that had set up house in one of the nest boxes.

Table1: Results from 2003 monitoring of nest boxes (only one visit made).
Location
(No. visited/ No. of boxes)
Vacant
Mountain
Bluebirds
Tree
Swallows
House
Wrens
House
Sparrows
Elk Island North (52/55 boxes)
17
-11 nest attempts -7 nests fledged -4 failed (5 dead young, 2 dead eggs)
-14 nest attempts -4 fledged, 8 young -11 dead eggs, 1 dead adult
-8 nests -2 failed/2 fledged -4 nests with 15 eggs, 6 young
-1 nest with 1 egg
Elk Island West
(20/34 boxes)
5
-1 nest failed -1 renest (4 eggs) -unknown fate
-10 nests -16 young, 20 eggs -10 dead young
0
-1 nest being constructed
Elk Island East (119/119 boxes)
27
-29 nest attempts -14 failed (21 dead eggs, 9 dead young) -9 fledged -6 nests (7 eggs, 17 young)
-43 nest attempts -10 nests (32 young, 12 eggs), 20 nests fledged -13 nests failed (19 dead eggs, 16 dead young)
-3 nests being built -3 nests failed -3 nests fledged -2 nests (8 young)
-5 nests attempts -2 fledged, 1 failed -2 nests (8 young)
East Fort Sask.
(58/63 boxes)
15
-11 nest attempts -5 failed (2 eggs, 12 dead young) -2 nests fledged -4 nests (11 eggs, 4 young)
-15 nest attempts -4 eggs/19 young on 6 nests, 3 nests fledged -5 nests failed (3 dead adult females, 14 dead young)
-10 nests -26 young -9 eggs
-2 nests fledged
Beaverhill South (13/15 boxes)
2
-1 nest -1 second nest -4 young fledge
-6 nests -25 young fledge
0
-2 nests -unknown fate
Total (262/286)
66
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Thanks to Bryn Spence, Juanita Mumby, John and Debbie Spence, Margaret Takats, Chuck Priestley, Paul Newton, Mike Paustain, and Laura Horlick for helping with the Bluebird Trail in 2003. We hope 2004 will be even better, with more volunteers helping. If you are interested in taking a section of the Elson Bluebird Trail to monitor, please contact me at (780) 918-4804 or E-mail: .