1.

N/A - Trail is on a farm.

2.

At the park trail in West Roxbury, I contact the mayor of Boston's office and give updates. People are always approaching me about birds. I only talk with children if there is a parent present. The children are always interested in the bird boxes.

3.

Who ever shows interest I will tell then about bluebirds

4.

Interact only on occasion. One time showed kids some bluebird nests this year for example.

5.

Sometimes when people are around the boxes, I try to tell them what's going on. For example, I'd say something like "Hey would you like to see baby birds?" or something like that. I get a reaction about half of the time, but I think I mostly scare people because they don't know who I am. I'm not sure if I'll continue to do that. Generally speaking, I usually make those comments to people who have children with them.

6.

I talk to the landfill manager and keep him posted on progress and problems. I share the trail with children in my neighborhood by having them come along and help keep records.

7.

Anytime someone comes along I offer information about what I am doing and always offer to show them what is going on in the nest box

8.

My trail is on my own private property.

9.

If someone comes by, I'm happy to chat with them, educate them, show nests if available. But it rarely happens.

10.

does not apply.

11.

I have shared it with my grandkids, by taking them on a little tour, and also letting them go with me to monitor.

12.

I have compiled a Newsletter for each trail and these are posted in a weather-proof bulletin board at both parks. The Newsletter explains what is happening with the trails, why trails are so important and gives contact information for those who want to learn more. My name and phone number are also listed, in case anyone notices a problem with any of the nestboxes. I am always talking with other park goers about the trails--people are so curious about what is happening with them. Today I even spoke with a man who was practicing his golf swing (and the golf balls were landing around a nestbox with an active bluebird nest). After almost being hit by a golfball (he didn't look before he swung!), I asked him if he'd mind shifting his golfing down a bit. I explained about the nestbox and said I was worried about the female bluebird being hit during her visits to the nestbox. He was very friendly and cooperative and said he'd be glad to move away from that area. I have not had the opportunity to share the trail with any children, other than the few I have encountered while monitoring. I did make a video of my trail for the kindergarten classes I worked with this year. They were fascinated at seeing the adults feeding the nestlings and asked some excellent questions. One child even asked me "Mrs. Kremnitzer, do you TOUCH the babies? Will the mommy come back?" Kids are amazing.

1.

N/A - Trail is not in a public setting. I use the box trap on the trail however.

2.

Park officials could care less about hosp. I never let the hosp eggs get to the hatching stage. I still don't think I could destroy hosp babys although I know a fledging hosp is a critical problem. When removing a hosp nest with eggs, if someone asks, I just say it is an old nest and I'm cleaning out the box so that hopefully bluebirds will move in.

3.

I handle it discretly. People that are interested I will tell them why it's done.

4.

Passive control only. Clean out nests, nest and eggs, or nestlings of HOSP. Park officials don't know, and don't have time to find out.

5.

I have a lot of confidence that what I'm doing is the right thing, so I try to go business as usual. However, I still try to be discrete about killing and carrying around HOSP if I can. I have an "expert" now to back me up if I really got in trouble, but so far, everyone has just minded their own business. If there are park officials, then I haven't met them. They're just city parks.

6.

See separate email. Sparrow spookers and inbox trapping, removing birds off site for dispatch and recycling to a raptor recovery center.

7.

I only trap HOSP in select isolated situations. All of our boxes are on utility poles along rural roads where observation by the public is not likely to happen

8.

We don't have any HOSP prsence at all.

9.

I dispose of the eggs after they are laid. I have not discussed this with park management, but I don't think they would disapprove. (Overall, my efforts are supervised by someone at the central office of Recreation and Parks). I would not discuss destroying eggs with a member of the public without ascertaining first what his/her attitude was likely to be.

10.

lucky I have not had to handle HOSP.

11.

I haven't had any problem with HOSP,in the 4 boxes of my trail that are in a State Park.

12.

I do trap hosps on both trails, which are located in public parks. I try to do the trapping early in the morning, mostly because this is the best time to catch a hosp, but also because there are fewer people in the park at that time. I have spoken with a few people who live near my Middletown trail and they understand the need for removing the house sparrows. They have absolutely no problem with the idea, though I don't go into detail about the process. The Parks Dept. is aware that I actively remove house sparrow nests--I don't advertise the trapping aspect, though some of the park workers say I should have a bb gun!

1.

Snakes have not been a problem here in this area of Ohio. I also use a baffle guard.

2.

Havn't been aware of snake predation yet but if I thought this was going to be a problem, I would buy a snake guard and put it only on the poles where bluebirds are definately starting a nest. Don't like the appearance of a guard and they are costly so I would only put one on an active bb nest if I started to see evidence of snakes.

3.

I move the box. I try to stay away from trouble areas.

4.

Identify them. Little control. Study bluebirds in natural surroundings as much as possible.

5.

We have baffles on almost every box, so our only predators have been HOSP and HOWR. HOWR we let nest sometimes, but we remove dummy nests as we find them because there are so many HOWR on one of the trails. HOSP we try to kill with inbox traps if possible.

6.

No snake problems so far. All poles have wobbling PVC baffles.

7.

We do not experience snake problems in this part of OH. If I encounter cat/coon problems, I move the box to a new, more "user friendly" location.....the same with squirrel/mouse infestations

8.

Rat snakes and fire ants are serious predator problems. A three inch band of "tanglefoot" on the mounting pole beneath the nest box stops the fire ants. Snake control is achieved by Kingston guards, inverted 5-gal plastic buckets, or by lubricating the mounting pole with automobile chassis grease. In many instances, a greased pole is used in conjunction with a bucket or kingston. I trust a properly greased pole by itself more than Kinston or an inverted bucket by their selves.

9.

Predator guards. I have almost never had a problem with predators.

10.

have a predator guard on all poles. sand at bottom and look at the sand to see if there has been any sliding that looks like a snake in the area. Then will have a more diligent watch. And other predator guards attached for the snake if there are eggs or hatchlings in that box.

11.

Baffles

12.

All but 2 of the nestboxes on my trails are baffled. The remaining 2 will be baffled by the end of this nesting season. I have not noticed any predation except by house sparrows.

1.

Open pasture land and hay fields away from HOSP and HOWR environments.

2.

I prefer a minimum of 500 feet of open space so that I can have 2 sets of paired boxes (2 and 2), and 100 feet from the edges of woods or thickets to discourage house wrens. Of course, mowed open fields are preferable.

3.

open space mainly walking trails that people don't use to much.

4.

Rural settings. In the open. Away from residential areas. Away from brush - all four as much as possible.

5.

I manage trails that are already existing. Someone more experienced than me makes these kind of decisions for my trials and that's fine with me. I do try my best to report back to her if I suspect the location of a box isn't working - like too many HOSP, branches have gotten too close, or bushes have overgrown for example.

6.

Open area, near some woods, short grass preferred or near a trail, lots of bugs, water source nearby.

7.

Away from wooded areas and from open sheds and barn buildings. Must be close to a small tree/shrub where fledglings can land on their maiden flights. I mount the box so that it always faces in that direction

8.

My criteria are: 1 - located 300 feet or more from nearest nestbox. 2 - grasslands where grass is less 12 inches high. 3 - Nestbox will become shaded by adjacent tree in the mid afternoon.

9.

Open field with cover nearby. Not near picnic area. Not near adjacent street (to avoid vandalism).

10.

I have only been at this for now 3 yrs.Kind of a learning experience as I go. I am also having a "problem" with "Cuban Tree Frogs" that are taking over my boxes. I have done some extensive checking into and have contacted numerous people at the University of Fla. and talk to them often about ways to help erradicate them. But in the long run they are here unwelcomed and to stay. Taking over and eating all our smaller frogs and lizards and possibly eggs and so I have been constantly checking my boxes and moving them if I find too many frogs then the area has too many frogs and shouldn't have a bluebird box. They are a very large and nasty frog. I have tried to move my boxes in areas where the birds have a good fledging spot/tree. And a good perch to look over their nest also while they are out of the box. And also an are close to get the food for the babies.

11.

Mostly open area, with something (fence, small tree) to perch on. Area gets mowed, or weeds are kept at a minimum. I try to make sure no pesticides/herbicides are used in the area. Not a lot of traffic.

12.

I try to site nestboxes as much in the open as possible, and out of sight of each other since distance between boxes is difficult to manage. Unfortunately, when you are working within the perameters of an existing park there are many things to consider. My goal is to choose sites as far from residential areas as possible and as far away from treelines as possible. It is also necessary to locate nestboxes away from high traffic areas--a nestbox at one of the parks is located between a soccer field and a softball field--which can get very hectic. The field was not used for soccer when the box was originally sited.

1.

HOSP & HOWR

2.

House wrens and hornets. Usually when a box is empty, it is because there is a hornets nest in it.

3.

House sparrows. but they get taken care of.

4.

1) Snakes. 2) Medium sized mammals, such as raccoons, feral cats. 3) House Sparrow. 4) Humans. 5) Weather.

5.

HOSP by far. The only true failures (a nest that was started and was lost) were all different. So I guess our most common failure is that there are so many HOSP that keep too many of our boxes occupied all season or most of it so that we never get the other birds.

6.

HOWR and HOSP (HOSP mostly gone now.) Many unexplained TRES deaths on a new trail.

7.

The persistence of HOWR. Competition from HOWR and HOSP

8.

My predator problems are fire ants and snakes. Snakes will get the mothers, eggs, and babies if guards are not used and keep in shape. Fire ants would be a very serious problem if tanglefoot was not used. This leaves my most common nest failure to be nest abandonment which I assume means the mother perished.

9.

HOSP. I rarely have nest failures, other than the odd unhatched egg.

10.

Most common predator I feel may have been bluejays. Babies have disappeared once right before they were to fledge very strangely and only thing I could come up with was that bluejays were all around parents and young. But never found them anywhere. Did see them on the box that day. And also the Cuban Tree Frogs. Don't have racoons because of my dogs outside that are loose. We are out on 10 acres.

11.

Wrens or pesticides

12.

House sparrows have been the most common/only predator on my trails this year. They have affected tree swallow nestings on both trails, killing 3 adult tree swallows. A new experience for me this year was losing 2 separate bluebird nestings under suspicious circumstances. Both nestings were mere days from fledging and all the nestlings were dead--I finally attributed their deaths to pesticide/poisoning, though there was no direct evidence of this. There was no visible physical damage to any of them.

1.

No. I only monitor about fifteen houses once a week.

2.

Sometimes, I can only monitor weekly. If I lived in a rural open area and had a trail on my property, I would monitor daily. Due to the travel time between my three trails, sometimes,2 or 3 weeks will go by before checking things out. I still feel that the blue bird population will benefit even though I'm not there as frequently as I would like.

3.

I check them when I walk my dog.

4.

No. Wish I had more time to enjoy the monitoring, such as watch other birds, and watch bluebird behavior.

5.

This year was the year we discovered a lot of unmonitored boxes. The part that was too much for me was dealing with a situation where multiple boxes have HOSP babies - what do I do? We decided in the end to try to find a way to kill them humainly. Whether we succeeded or not, the event kind of made me break down, even though I know what HOSP are capable of doing. It's just a conflict. For the most part, we are able to handle the number of boxes we monitor. We are however planning to remove and recycle (with the help of someone very experienced) the boxes that aren't working out - the ones that will only attract HOWR and/or HOSP.

6.

I have trouble finding time, and I hate it when it's hot and buggy. I do it anyway, it's a responsibility that comes with putting up boxes. I also really want to know if there's a problem so I have a chance to address it. And I feel it's important for citizen scientists to collect data to contribute to the general state of knowledge about native cavity nesting birds.

7.

I don't worry about that at all and I do the best I can to monitor separate trails in sequence. We have three trails....a total of 70 boxes. Each box is monitored every 10-14 days

8.

Monitoring is not a problem.

9.

Rarely, but sometimes. I do it anyway, or I slightly extend the period between monitorings. If I had real problems, I'd let my supervisor know.

10.

No not at all. I enjoy watching them. Actually can't believe how fast the birds grow. I miss a few days and they are ready to fly. I only have boxes on my property this year that I monitor.

11.

No

12.

Taking on the new trail this year was exciting, at first. Once in a while now I do feel it to be a chore. There is so much to be done and the 2nd trail requires so much more time--the nestboxes are spread out over a larger area and require some hiking. I try very hard to monitor both trails at least twice a week, but there are definitely days when I don't feel like going! It is a responsibility, though, and I'm always glad once I get moving!

1.

Tree Swallows

2.

The following are in my areas and most welcome: chickadees, titmouse, nuthatches, and downey woodpeckers.

3.

Tree swallows, chickadees, titmice all welcome

4.

No. All native cavity nesters are very welcome of course.

5.

Definitely. TRES is our main second target. We do have some larger boxes designed for owls/kestrels, however, the birds aren't taking to them. We will probably be removing those boxes with the hopes that they will find a better home somewhere else. We would love to have chicadees or tufted titmice, but the locations of the boxes aren't conducive to these species (or I suspect so because we haven't seen any yet).

6.

Lots of phoebes and sometimes mockers. Saw my first bobolink too! I have TRES, BCCH, HOWR (trying anyway) and ETTI nestings.

7.

I monitor TRES as well

8.

I target Bluebirds, Chickadees, Titmice, and Carolina Wrens. I have one Screech Owl box.

9.

I'm happy to have other native cavity nesters. I get chickadees, tree sparrows, and house wrens.

10.

I also have 2 bat houses. And I have Carolina Wren houses and I also have this year Great Crested Flycatcher house. Intend to do more bluebird houses also.

11.

Not really. If Tree Swallows come and nest, I allow them, but haven't noticed any others making nest in the boxes.

12.

Not target, exactly. I'd be perfectly happy if all the nestboxes were filled with bluebirds, but I do love the tree swallows! They are such fun birds to watch, though their nests are messier than that of blues and I hate the creepy crawly mites that always manage to get on me when I'm cleaning out a nestbox--no matter how careful I am!