News & Announcements
Nesting Season Kick-Off
Saturday January 30, 2010
Brazos Center
3232 Briarcrest Drive
Room 102 (Auditorium)
Bryan, TX 77802
Join us with other TBS members as we explore solutions to the most predominant challenges we face in providing the best habitat and promoting solid conservation practices. We want to ensure our blue feathered friends (and other native cavity-nesting birds) have safe, family friendly environments in which to raise their young. Learn something new, revel your best practices, share your bluebird experiences.
Mark your (new) calendars and do not miss this date. Start the new bluebird nesting season with the right “renters.” Noted speakers, Group Discussions, Q&A session, Nestbox Sales, Door Prizes, Snacks, and a huge sack to carry away all of the knowledge you will have gained!
The date and location are set, details such as time, speakers, and other details to follow. Details like $12 nestboxes for members only, 10 max. Special NestWatch rewards, and other great stuff.
Registration for this event is required. Don’t worry football fans, we checked, the Super Bowl is not this weekend.
Summer Bluebird Symposium A Success!
by Lysle Mockler
Over 100 enthusiastic bluebirders attended the 7th Annual Bluebird Symposium on August 8, 2009. Many of these folks had never attended a bluebird event before. Keith Kridler, our featured speaker met all our expectations with his knowledgeable up beat style. Eight speakers in all shared their experiences with the group. Diverse topics, Nestbox Building (Ron Tom), to Sparrow Control and Bluebird Basics (Linda Crum) were covered. Pauline Tom spoke on Nestwatch. Betty Reuscher recommended Planting for Bluebirds and Weindell Stiles covered the Human Impact on Bluebirds.
Thanks to Carolyn Gritzmaker, The Silent Auction was a huge success with all kinds of bluebird houses, bluebird books, original art, antiques and on and on. I would have loved to have been the winner of David Shiels beautiful heat shield nestbox, but Pauline won it. It brought a bundle. I suffered a bit of empty nest syndrome after the symposium was over, but won (at the auction) a lovely oil painting by Mary Rabien as a memento.
Home Sweet Home
Bird house, bird box, nestbox, nest box, cavity - no matter what you call it, a properly built nestbox installed in the right location is home sweet home to our bluebird friends during nesting season. Read More
EASTERN BLUEBIRD POPULATION DOWN 19% IN TEXAS - Feb. 15, 2009
Audubon unpublished data shows a 19% decrease in the population of Eastern Bluebirds in Texas (1966 – 2005,) as compared to a 311% increase nationwide and a northward shift of 115 miles, according to Rob Fergus, Senior Scientist for Urban Bird Conservation, National Audubon Society.
Little Bits from "Across Texas" - January 26, 2009
Betsy Hime purchased 20 nestboxes from TBS in mid-January. When on Jan. 25, Pauline Tom emailed, “Any update on the bluebirds? Did you get the nestboxes installed?” Betsy replied:
We just got back from the acreage (Limestone County). Installed 14 boxes this weekend and the bluebirds were already interested. I couldn't believe how they came out of the woods and perched on the boxes and even went in and out! This was very thrilling for us. We didn't have enough supplies to set out the remaining 6, so we hope to go back next weekend. … Thanks so much for the encouragement. Betsy
Brian and Judy Hetherington reported from Abilene on Jan. 25th:
We had 60 people plus 9 Master Naturalists at our seminar yesterday. 24 people joined TBS, a couple of people purchased extra nestboxes and one woman bought 2 boxes without joining. Total of 29 nestboxes. Both of my presentations (Intro to Bluebirds & Managing Nestboxes) pushed TBS and TBS was listed as one of the sponsors. The TBS table with the banner was active all through the seminar. It was a good day. Cheers! Judy
And, word is in from Nancy Nichols, who covered (for "Texas Blues") the replacement of dilapidated nestboxes at Lake Tawakoni State Park (Matthew Duerr's Eagle Scout project): "WE had a blast even though it was freezing. We did see lots of bluebirds--they were watching us take the houses down." Assistant Scoutmaster David Shiels writes, "It went great! The nestboxes look good and the park is happy. It was very very very cold and windy."
NestWatch Database open for 2009 data entry
Although mid-winter is early in the year for active nests, the NestWatch database is ready for business at Cornell Lab of Ornithology (CLO). "Now" is a good time to enter any new or "not-yet-registered" nestbox locations.
When entering data, the database will automatically default to 2009. Input guidance is provided in the Data Entry Instructions.
Setting up your nestbox(es) in the system is the most difficult and time-consuming aspect of NestWatch. CLO asks that you monitor each nestbox about once every five days, and record your observations at the website. NestWatch permanently stores your nesting records for yourself, TBS, scientists, and others.
HINT: Enter each visit to the nestbox, even when there is no activity. This will help you determine the date of the first egg if you miss a week. (Bluebirds lay one egg a day and usually begin incubation on the day of the last egg.)
TBS Photostream Rolling on Flickr
The Photo Library of Texas Bluebird Society now appears as a Flickr Photo Stream. It's a work in progress, divided into six sections: Bluebirds; Bluebird Life Cycle; Bluebird Nests and Nestboxes; Other Cavity Nesters; Predators; Events.
Photographers of all skill levels are invited to submit images – especially, photos taken in Texas. To donate a photo to the TBS Photo Gallery, please follow the instructions below. TBS cannot accept photos that you have not taken yourself.
- Attach the photo to an email (do not embed in the email).
- Include a title and caption for the photo in the body of the email.
- If there are people in the photo, include their names (if possible).
- Include your name as you want to be credited in the body of the email.
It is very important that all three components—photo, title/caption, and your name—are submitted together in one email. To help ensure it is not mistaken for spam, title your email appropriately, and send it to tbsfotos@yahoo.com.
Please note that TBS will not credit your photo in its PowerPoint presentations. You may embed your name in your photo with a graphics program (consult your program's help file for assistance), but if TBS sizes down your photo in its presentations, your embedded name could be unreadable.
Lysle Mockler is featured NestWatch participant
NestWatch eNewsletter has a new feature and TBS member Lysle Mockler is included in its launch. A request for photos, videos, and stories about their NestWatching experiences brought scores of engaging submissions. Lysle's sprightly anecdote, and a photo by John Dunning/CLO, can be enjoyed at "View Featured Participants." The page will be routinely updated; visit asap. NestWatch is a continentwide citizen-science project and nest-monitoring database of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, funded by the National Science Foundation and developed in collaboration with the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. www.nestwatch.org
Donations to TBS
All Donations for remainder of this calendar year will go towards purchase of lumber for nestboxes we will give away in 2009, unless otherwise designated.
Send tax-deductible* donation online or mail check (payable to Texas Bluebird Society) to:
Caryn Brewer, TBS Accounts Payable
1106 Jacobs Court
Conroe TX 77384
*Texas Bluebird Society is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Donations are tax deductible, as allowed by law.
TBS logo shirts available
ThreadsOnTheWeb (http://www.companycasuals.com/texasbluebird/) accepts individual orders for TBS logo shirts - not only imprinted t-shirts, but also embroidered knit shirts in a variety of whites and pastels! The t's are available left chest; full front; and left chest + full back.
The TBS logo showed great on www.myfoxaustin.com in one of two news clips (April 25, 2008) on the Buda Wiener Dog races. Pauline Tom wore her TBS shirt to the pre-event coverage to promote TBS / bluebirds. It worked!!!
Data Entry System for Nesting Data Now Open!
www.nestwatch.org opened its pilot season in April 2007 and Texas Bluebird Society encourages all Texans to enter data on each of their nestings.
Nesting data can be shared with scientists and others through www.NestWatch.org , "a continent-wide effort to better understand the impacts of environmental change on bird reproduction." The system collects data throughout a nesting cycle of any bird (whether in a nestbox, natural cavity, or in the open.)
Texas Bluebird Society made arrangements with CLO to promote NestWatch.org in Texas during this pilot year. TBS suspended plans to collect on-line nesting data for a "TransTexas Nestbox Network." Now, NestWatch is the depository.
There is no fee associated with NestWatch.org. It's funded by the National Science Foundation.
"The data you submit will be part of a permanent historical record and a legacy of your important nest monitoring efforts, that will be used by researchers well into the future."
Download worksheet and instructions for more details.
