Local group improves bluebird habitat
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It’s not too early to start planning for spring and with it, the return of songbirds to Western Montana, as members of the Ninepipe Explorers 4-H Club learned last Wednesday. Twelve kids in the group visited the headquarters of Mountain Bluebird Trails, Inc., in Ronan to help build bluebird nest boxes under the direction of Charlo’s Erv Davis and Rod Wamsley. In less than an hour, the students assembled about 30 bluebird boxes for distribution around the area.
“This is the height of my ambition, to see these kids do this,” Davis said.
Birdhouses are more important than most would think, Davis explained. Bluebirds are secondary cavity-nesting birds, meaning they naturally look for pre-built homes like hollow trees or snags. But as humans encroach more and more on the birds’ natural habitat, those snags are harder and harder to find. It was concern over the birds’ lack of natural habitat that prompted the late Art Aylesworth to start building bird boxes in 1978. As more people got involved, the nonprofit Mountain Bluebird Trails formed in the mid ’90s.
“It’s just a group of people that are dedicated to preserving the bluebirds and their habitat,” Davis explained. “We want to preserve and bring back the bluebirds.”
The group does that mostly by building and distributing bluebird nest boxes and monitoring bluebirds through banding. After starting as just a few bluebird lovers in Lake County, Mountain Bluebird Trails has expanded to more than 900 members throughout Montana and in the Northern U.S. Rocky Mountain region. And they’ve built well more than 30,000 birdhouses, Art’s son Ray Aylesworth said. Materials for the bird boxes come mostly from donations, Davis noted.
“We need wood,” he said.
They also needs volunteers to assemble the birdhouses, and that’s where help from groups like the Ninepipe Explorers comes in.
“We’re always open to community service,” club leader Kelly Blevins said.
So when 4-H mom Shelly Frame heard about the bluebird project, she suggested the Ninepipe Explorers take some time while out of school for winter break to lend a hand. After all, “it’ll be spring before we know it,” Frame said.
“The birds are coming back, so we’ve got to get our motels ready,” Davis added. “We’ve got to have available housing … If we don’t have a habitat, we won’t have bluebirds.”
Bluebird boxes should go up by the end of February, he said. For more information on Mountain Bluebird Trails or getting bluebird boxes, contact the office at (406) 676-0300.
