Although the Garner Parks’ staff replaced and relocated several boxes, we had one fewer fledglings this year than last year.

We had one cup, nest and five nestlings to disappear from the box. They were ready to fledge so hopefully they did fledge before the cup and nest were removed. (They were not removed by our monitoring team.) A few days later, a dead male Bluebird was found in the same nest box apparently killed by another bird, a house sparrow, evidenced by the beginnings of a house sparrow nest a few days later.

Another nest box’s door was found open, the cup lying on the ground nearby. The nest was about a foot away and a few blue feathers nearby. These five nestlings were ready to fledge. So we lost 10 Bluebirds which brought our total down.

The Parks and Recreation staff continues to be very supportive and are also enjoying the birds and us Bluebirders. They’re always ready to help and we enjoy discussing the Park and birds with them.

Special thanks go to Diane Woerner and Annie Runyon for their commitment to monitoring this year. The Bluebirds are lucky to have these two on their side.

Annie is an author of children’s wildlife books and her illustrations appear in the Wildlife in North Carolina magazine. She will have some illustrations for one of the exhibit installations at the new Walnut Creek Wetland Center in Raleigh. Also, the White Deer Park Nature Center which is scheduled to open in Garner this fall will have one of her wildlife illustrations on display. Check out these two Centers and Annie’s web site. www.annerunyon.com/

Diane is a woman of many interests. She is a retired nurse who enjoys the outdoors and wildlife, especially Bluebirds. She is an enthusiastic photographer and has entered one of her photographs in the State Fair this year and is an active member of the Garner Photography Club. She has made her yard wildlife friendly and has earned the distinction of it being a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat. She may be retired but is still very busy with volunteering in her community.