Volume 29 Issue 2, Spring 2024

by Frank Gardner and Michael Sciortino

Eagle Scout candidate Nathan Stewart led Boy Scout Troop 1430’s installation of the nest boxes. Photo by Michael Sciortino

Eastern Bluebirds are among our most colorful and engaging local birds. In February, South Riding Proprietary (SRP) became the home to 20 new Eastern Bluebird nest boxes thanks to a generous grant from the Virginia Bluebird Society (VBS), with the support of Kristi Felouzis, SRP general manager, the SRP Board of Directors, and Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy. With the support of these groups, we were able to provide new safe nesting opportunities for future generations of bluebirds and other cavity nesters such as Tree Swallows, House Wrens, Carolina Chickadees, and Tufted Titmice.

The introduction of alien European Starlings and House Sparrows, along with the loss of farmland in the 19th and 20th centuries, seriously depleted the native population of cavity nesters, especially bluebirds. With local and national programs established to create safe havens of carefully designed nest boxes, bluebird populations are now rebounding.

Fresh new nest boxes wait to be installed and welcome new feathered residents in South Riding. Photo by Frank Gardner

In November, South Riding resident Frank Gardner submitted a grant request to the VBS for 20 new boxes on behalf of the South Riding Proprietary. These new boxes are to add to the three boxes that we have been monitoring in South Riding for the past few years. To our surprise, the grant request was approved in lightning time, and the boxes were ready for pickup in Charlottesville almost immediately. Frank arranged with SRP for pickup, and we stored the already assembled boxes, poles, and nest guards until they were ready to be deployed around the community.

Thanks to the leadership of Nathan Stewart, a Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Eagle Scout candidate, and members of BSA Troop 1430, with friends and families, the nest boxes were installed on a cold Saturday morning in February.

No bluebird nesting program can be successful without a regular monitoring program to ensure the young birds develop safely. Loudoun Wildlife’s bluebird monitoring program now supports the larger network of bluebird boxes in South Riding. Loudoun Wildlife helped to recruit and train volunteers, and now supports bluebird nest box trail monitors as they collect data through the summer.

Before installing this box in a spot that meets the housing needs of a bluebird family, project volunteers signed it. Photo by Michael Sciortino

With the addition of the 20 nest boxes in South Riding, Loudoun Wildlife now has over 700 boxes being monitored, the largest number of any county in Virginia. Longtime South Riding resident Michael Sciortino, a member of the Loudoun Wildlife Board of Directors and a bluebird trail leader, has a leadership role in the monitoring program and is coordinating the team.

Thirteen South Riding volunteers — both veterans and new recruits — have answered the call to monitor these 20 new boxes and the three existing boxes. Beginning with a training session held in mid-March, the volunteers are prepared for the forthcoming monitoring season.

“With this new trail, South Riding and Avonlea now have 72 nest boxes,” said Rich Wailes, a member of Loudoun Wildlife’s Bluebird Program leadership team. “I join Michael, Frank, and all the monitors in eager anticipation of increased successful nesting activity in their neighborhood.”

To find out more about Loudoun Wildlife and the bluebird monitoring program, please visit the website. The mission of the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy is to inspire, motivate, and engage people to protect, preserve, and restore wildlife habitat in Loudoun County. The bluebird monitoring program is part of that effort.

With all these groups and volunteers working together, we hope we will soon see the first bluebirds moving into their new homes in South Riding.