The Lake Fork Bluebird Trail

The trail was started in 1987 with the installation of 180 boxes beginning at Lake City and extending north to the middle of Miller Flats, north of “The Gate”. Another 20 boxes were places on “the Blue” starting at the ranger station and going north on the trial. The basic purpose of the trail was to provide additional nesting opportunities for the mountain bluebird. In 1988, another 215 boxes were erected extending the trail past Powderhorn. The following year, 1989, I completed the trail to Blue Mesa Reservoir. I also put some boxes at Capitol City, the Moncrief Mountain Ranch and along the Blue Mesa Road from Highway 149 across the Old Red Bridge and up on Blue Mesa. Some 600 boxes were erected by this time and in 1993, I put 29 boxes on Hwy 149 from Spring Creek Pass toward Creede for a distance of about 2 ½ miles. Since some boxes were stolen each year, the figure of 600 diminished somewhat. This fall (1993), I intend to get an accurate current inventory when I clean the boxes and record the results.

Other birds which use the boxes are primarily the olive green swallows and house wrens. Occasionally, I find nest material I can’t identify. I clean the boxes on an annual basis, usually in the fall after nesting season. The front opening design makes this operation fairly simple. Bluebirds build nests entirely of grass and keep them clean by removing the fecal sacs of the young. Swallows also build nest of grass but festoon the tops with feathers. They seldom remove the feces of the young so the interior walls are usually encrusted with “whitewash”. Wrens build nests of twigs, usually from pine trees.

Mountain bluebirds seldom raise more than one brood per year. They won’t nest until an adequate supply of hard-bodied insects (primarily grasshoppers) is assured. This doesn’t occur until about May 15 to June 1^st.

Swallows feed entirely on airborne insects which seem to be a bit more abundant earlier in the year. Wrens feed on almost any type of insect or spider, preferable grubs of various insects. While wrens are sometimes very destructive of bluebird nest and the young, they have not been a problem on this trail.

House sparrows, a deadly enemy of bluebirds, don’t inhabit the areas where the boxes have been places. Another enemy of the bluebirds, the starlings, can’t get in to the boxes and are not numerous on the trail. Weasels have entered some boxes and eaten the young birds but this has been an infrequent occurrence.

Between theft and big game hunters or “plinkers”, I lose several boxes each year. Usually the “shot-up” boxes can be repaired and returned to service.

Each year, I find some unhatched eggs and a few dead young or adults but their number is not significant.

The following figures indicate nestings of the birds indicated with a probable 10% error in identifications of contents:

Year          # Boxes             Bluebird                  Swallow                  Wren

1987          200                     14                          15                         5

1988          415                      57                       78                           14

1989          615                      137                      152                         24

1990          615                       131                      178                       10

1991          615                     178                         151                       13

I did not check and clean the boxes in 1992, so this year (1993) will include two years of nestings. Checking and cleaning each year provides occupancy data as well as ridding the boxes of material in which parasites can live through the winter. Nests which are build on nests increase the level of the young close to the entry hole where cats and raccoons can raid the nests.

Bluebirds seldom live beyond 7 to 8 years old, so it is important that they reproduce to keep their numbers up. The attrition of young birds for the year probably exceeds 50% while the average life span of older birds is perhaps 3 to 4 years.

My basic philosophy on trail management is to provide nesting opportunities. I keep no records of the number of young fledged and I open each box once a year to determine if it was occupied. I could not use this approach if I had house sparrow problems. Bluebirds have been around for thousands of years. They can take care of themselves if they can nest but they must have cavities in which to raise their young.

I plan to continue this trail toward Creede and have about 60 boxes set aside for that purpose. I hope to install these in 1994.

Helmut G. Quiram

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