Bluebirds off to San Juans

Some flew back to Fort Lewis during last year's relocation

By John Dodge | The Olympian • Published April 24, 2008

• Comments (0)

FORT LEWIS – The second year of the Western bluebird relocation project continued Wednesday, with a few minor tweaks.

That's because three of the eight mating pairs transported from this bluebird-rich Army post to the San Juan Islands last spring flew back within a few days.

Only one pair from last year was spotted nesting at its new, northern destination, Fort Lewis fish and wildlife biologist Jim Lynch said.

"Having one pair nesting on the islands isn't necessarily a failure," he said.

The long-range goal is to take advantage of a burgeoning bluebird population at Fort Lewis to repopulate the San Juans, as well as Vancouver and Whidbey islands. The medium-size songbird gradually vanished from those areas because of habitat loss 15 to 70 years ago, said Gary Slater, research director for Ecostudies Institute, a Mount Vernon-based nonprofit conservation group.

Efforts to restore bluebird populations on about 20,000 acres of Fort Lewis grasslands, native prairie and oak stands, and oak groves began 25 years ago with the introduction of nest boxes. The military post now has about 200 pairs of birds, and pairs are spilling off the post to breed in other, nearby South Sound prairies, Fort Lewis fish and wildlife program manager Dave Clouse said.

It's enough birds to seed repopulation efforts elsewhere, the biologists said.

Fort Lewis, the Ecostudies Institute, the American Bird Conservancy, the San Juan Audubon Society, the San Juan Preservation Trust and a group of volunteers have teamed to spread the bluebirds around, relying on $30,000 raised through grants.

This year, capture for the relocated birds occurred over several weeks to reduce the risk of multiple pairs flying back to their native nest boxes at Fort Lewis.

In addition, the birds will be kept longer weeks instead of days in their Friday Harbor-area halfway houses called aviaries, so they can be released as their nesting urge is peaking.

There are about 100 nest boxes awaiting them in suitable habitats on San Juan Island.

Back at Fort Lewis, the birds are captured in pairs after they've bonded to a nest box but before they breed.

Slater and Lynch attached a fine mesh net enclosure around the nest site of a targeted pair Wednesday, then stepped back 50 paces and played a CD of bluebird songs piped back to speakers near the nest.

Bluebirds are territorial, so the sound of intruders typically flushes them out of trees and back to their nests. When that happens, Slater rushes the birds, and they fly into the net.

On Wednesday, he had to place two caged bluebirds caught that day under the nest box because all of the onlookers, and the net rustling in the wind, initially kept the pair at bay.

But with live birds by the nest, the bluebirds flew back within minutes. Once caught, they were weighed, measured and banded for tracking, then placed in cages for transport.

Wednesday's two pairs were transported by an airplane piloted by a volunteer on a trip that took about 90 minutes. That compares to the several-hour car and ferry ride required when the weather doesn't allow plane flights.

The labor-intensive effort is patterned after Eastern bluebird relocation efforts in the Florida Everglades, Slater said.

"Most relocation efforts are done with very large birds, but bluebirds are very tolerant of handling and very hardy," he said. "I know this technique works."