Bluebird College

"Bluebird College Professor" Carolyn Kohls

Nearly 650 children have been to “college” at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge so far this year!  Bluebird College that is… the “college” classroom is on the Visitor Center patio, with a good view of a Bluebird nest box in the adjacent field, the “college professors” are volunteers from the Nest Box Monitors, and the curricula is geared to the grade school interest level.

The students learn to recognize an Eastern Bluebird and the difference in plumage for the male and female.   They learn about Bluebird habitat, diet and nesting. Students get a close-up view of a nest box and completed nest.  They see photos of Bluebird young in various stages of development.  They also get to see a nest that was removed, along with several eggs, from a box on the trail at the Refuge after it was clear that there would be no hatch.

They get to hear a recorded Bluebird song.  And they might even get to see Bluebirds flying around the nest box nearby.  

Thanks to the school administrators, teachers, parents, Friends of Hagerman, volunteers and Refuge staff who make it possible for all these children to go to Bluebird College!

Bluebird - Symbol of Happiness

Bluebirds, a favorite songbird, will the topic for Second Saturday at Hagerman NWR, with Refuge Manager Kathy Whaley, speaker.  Since Kathy will be educating us about Bluebird traits and behavior, today’s post will focus on some Bluebird trivia.

Bluebird on Harris Creek Trail by Bert Garcia

This Navajo song, referring to the Mountain Bluebird (a spirit animal connected with the rising sun) is sung at dawn:

Bluebird said to me,

"Get up, my grandchild.

It is dawn," it said to me.

“The bluebird carries the sky on his back,” wrote Henry David Thoreau.

An early 20th century Nobel–prize winning play forchildren  is a fairy tale in which children are sent on a world journey to search for the Bluebird of Happiness, only to discover it close to home. 

The song, “Bluebird of Happiness”, was composed in 1934 by Sandor Harmati, for his friend, opera singer Jan Peerce, with words by Edward Heyman and additional lyrics by Harry Parr-Davies.  Here’s a link to a performance of the song by Peerce. 

"The White Cliffs of Dover" is another popular song  with a Bluebird symbol of cheer, written by Johnny Mercer with lyrics by Nat Burton;  the World War II song represented the feelings of the Allies about protecting Britain from the planned German invasion.  The song, popularized by Vera Lynn, starts :

There'll be bluebirds over
The white cliffs of Dover,

….. 

Then we find “Mr. Bluebird on my shoulder” in the lyrics to “Zip a Dee Doo Dah” from Disney’s Song of the South.  

A 1940 fantasy film starring Shirley Temple was The Blue Bird – “The blue bird of the title was paid $50 a day, and flew away from a Los Angeles aviary soon after the movie was finished.”

For a 1976 film produced jointly by American and Russian film companies, The Blue Bird, “No bluebirds could be readily found, so several thousand pigeons were hand-dyed blue for the climactic scenes.”  Neither of the two films brought any happiness to audiences or producers; they were both “bombs”.

If you ever rode on a school bus you were probably riding on a Blue Bird bus.  

The “Original Bluebird of Happiness” is a registered trademark for the familiar blue glass bird, originally created by Leo Ward at Terra Studios in Arkansas and sold in gift shops across the nation and around the world. 

The Eastern Bluebird has been designated as the state bird for both New York and Missouri; the Mountain Bluebird is the state bird for Idaho and Nevada.

Here is an online Bluebird Trivia Quiz you can take, perhaps before AND after the presentation Saturday!

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge offers opportunities to fall in love with nature not only on special holidays but any day you visit. During this week alone the geese have been back again, browsing at the Refuge, three otters were spotted by the low water crossing and the birders tallied 70 bird species. And for those who love Bluebirds, a special treat February 11, when Refuge Manager Kathy Whaley gives a Second Saturday presentation on the blue beauties.

Kathy’s presentation will begin at 10 am in the Visitor Center meeting room and will include general information on eastern Bluebirds, as well as information on the three Bluebird trails at the Refuge, and will be followed by a panel of Bluebird monitoring volunteers, to field questions.

Speaking of Bluebird monitors, trail monitoring will begin the last week of February, and those who adopted nest boxes will begin receiving emailed reports of activity in their nest box. If you missed out on getting a box this year, plenty of photos will be posted on the Friends website and Facebook page for all to enjoy.

And finally, here is a link to “Love in the Wild” from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Enjoy!

Photo - Harris Creek Bluebird, by Bert Garcia

Adopt-a-Nest-Box at Refuge

How would you like to help expand the Bluebird Trail at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge? The Friends of Hagerman NWR are offering the opportunity to adopt a nest box at the Refuge for one nesting season, for a donation of $25. to the Friends. There are currently three Bluebird trails at the refuge and more boxes being added. All the boxes will be monitored weekly by volunteers once nesting begins for the season. These boxes may host Bluebirds, Warblers, Chickadees or Titmice.

To adopt a box for yourself or as a gift for others, go to http://www.friendsofhagerman.com/images/articles/20101118071550_adopt_a_nest_box_form.pdf When your adoption form is received, you will receive an acknowledgement, and if the adoption is made as a gift, the recipient will also receive notification. Before the 2011 nesting season begins, a box will be tagged with your name or that of the gift recipient. Those with e-mail will be notified of the box location, and regular updates, including photos, will be sent about nesting activity in your box. If you do not have e-mail, you will receive a letter summarizing nesting activity for your box, at the end of the season.

The adoption period for 2011 begins November 1, 2010, and ends February 1, 2011.

For more information, please send a request by way of the Comment page at http://www.friendsofhagerman.com. To view the official Hagerman NWR website, go to http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/texas/hagerman/index.html.

Photo by Grace Haight.

Nest Box Monitors

Would you enjoy watching a bird’s nest, seeing the newly laid eggs and then the tiny baby birds who would soon be ready to fledge? You can do this as a volunteer, but please don’t take a peek unless you are on the monitor team, to avoid disturbing the birds more than once a week.

One of the Friends of Hagerman’s goals for this year was to add more nest boxes at the Refuge, then Sandy Campbell’s Second Saturday program on Bluebirds in March inspired the formation of the Nest Box Monitors Team at Hagerman NWR. The monitors have met, organized and are working to upgrade and add additional nest boxes at the Refuge. In addition, under Derek Miller’s leadership, a web-based data collection system has been developed and the Bluebird boxes are being given a GPS identifier and unique number so that each monitoring team can record data easily.

Originally there was a Bluebird trail along Harris Creek Trail; now Sandy Campbell has added more boxes there, and the team built a dozen new boxes and installed them along that trail as replacements for deteriorating boxes. A second trail has been added by Sandy along Haller Haven Trail and more boxes placed near Meadow Pond Trail.

The houses are monitored weekly by rotating pairs of monitors from the team and reports made. For last week Mike Chiles and Sandy reported that along the Meadow Pond Trail they found that a Titmouse and a Prothonotary Warbler had eggs; on Harris Creek they found three nest boxes with Bluebirds about to fledge, and one box with four eggs.

Currently the active team members are Sandy Campbell, Jack Chiles, Mike Chiles, Dianne Connery, Dick Malnory, Derek Miller, Andre Pease, Mike Pease, and Roger Peckinpaugh. There is room for more!! Just contact the Refuge to join up, 903 786 2826. Kathy Whaley is the Refuge liaison.

For more info, see the official Refuge website, http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/texas/hagerman/index.html and/or the Friends website, http://www.friendsofhagerman.com.

Photo by Dick Malnory