Bluebird trail
The NRV Bird Club Bluebird Trail recently celebrated its 25th season at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center (CRC). The trail comprises 15 nestboxes and was started in 1998 by bird club members Pat Polentz, Peggy Spiegel, Phyllis Spiegel, Bruce Grimes, Beth Lancaster, and Bill Opengari.
Recent nesting data
Volunteer monitors collect nesting data via Nestwatch, a Cornell University smartphone app that captures, tracks, and transmits nesting statistics from the field directly to Cornell's database. This work helps Cornell study the reproductive biology of birds, including when nesting occurs, number of eggs laid, how many eggs hatch, and how many hatchlings survive. The data is also used to help determine the current overall condition of breeding bird populations and how they may be changing over time as a result of climate change and habitat degradation and loss.
None of this would be possible without our dedicated volunteers who monitor the nestboxes weekly during the March-August breeding season. Bill Opengari built all the boxes and still does all the maintenance today. Volunteers installed predator guards in 2021.
Our 2023 volunteers included: Trail Coordinator Carol Kauffman and Connie Marshall, Bill Opengari, Karen Young, Elizabeth Young, Jean Elliott, Sharon Crane, Laurie Hudgins, Mark Pierson, and Pat Donovan.