THE COMEBACK TRAIL

One of the common rants I seem to hear more frequently around the office nowadays is the old tune of how we are destroying the environment and how hopeless it is to try and change the situation. It's the old "one person can't do anything" tale that every one of us has heard constantly. But the quiet story of the comeback of the bluebird is a tribute to the power of wildscapers doing something, one by one, in small areas of land across the nation - small efforts that made a big difference to a very popular bird.

This bright blue bird, a relative of the robin, was once a very common sight throughout North America. The urbanization of America and the introduction of the sparrow and the starling took a terrible toll on this small thrush. By the 1970s, ornithologists estimated that the bluebird population was only 10% of the 1910 population levels.

At this point, birding enthusiasts stepped in with a backyard recovery program to help save bluebirds before they vanished forever. In one of the earliest "wildscaping" programs, bluebird enthusiasts everywhere began putting up nest boxes and making small changes to their landscaping that favored the bluebird and discouraged the birds that competed with it. They started newsletters and clubs, and began educating the public and each other about the best foods, nesting sites, and ways of rebuilding bluebird habitat. These unfunded, unsung heroes took their quiet crusade to the people themselves and, throughout the bluebird's range, the response was heartening. This was the tiny edge that bluebirds needed. Recent bird counts show that the bluebird is making a remarkable recovery.

Fortunately, it's fairly easy to wildscape for bluebirds if you live in the United States. Bluebirds are year-long residents in most areas south of the Mason-Dixon Line, and summer visitors up into some areas of Canada and Alaska. Their needs are fairly simple - a quiet nest box near a large grassy area, water, and food - and human beings who can discourage their competitor birds (starlings and house sparrows) from taking over the bluebirds' territory. Tree swallows, which also use bluebird nesting boxes, are NOT a problem bird for bluebirds - and oddly enough, having tree swallows nesting near your bluebirds will help protect them from other birds.

If you've spotted these distinctive birds in your area, you can encourage them to come visit your house by putting up a nest box and providing free nest building material (dried grasses and pine needles are what they prefer). A source of clean water is something birds need, so a birdbath should add to the chances that they'll become frequent visitors to your yard. But one of the biggest lures for any bluebird during the spring and summer is a saucer full of mealworms.

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