Bluebird Trail

Eastern Bluebird – © Elisa Shaw

Listen to a bluebird sing!

Watch a bluebird grow from egg to fledgling!

What is a Bluebird Trail? It is a series of specifically constructed Bluebird nesting boxes, set up at appropriate intervals in keeping with the bluebird’s territorial requirements. Bluebird Trails have been established in many areas and are monitored by volunteers to maximize nesting success and record data on nesting box usage. Over the years, Bluebird Trails have played a major role in bringing Bluebird populations back after they had been decreasing for many years.

On the May 1960 census, only six Bluebirds were recorded by the Ralph T. Waterman Bird Club in Dutchess County. Florence Germond began the Dutchess County Bluebird Trail in 1962 with 22 nest boxes and that year two broods of Bluebirds were successfully fledged, for a total of six young from the same nest box on Willowbrook Road in Stanford. She continued to coordinate and expand the trail until her death in 1994. Susan Gilnack has been coordinator since 2010. To contact her, send email to bluebird1@watermanbirdclub.org.

The club currently monitors 480 nest boxes throughout Dutchess County on public and private land.  There are an average of 25 trail monitors that check each nest box weekly and record the data from mid-March through September.  Since 1962 they have fledged over 31,098 Bluebirds!

Use the green links below for more information about bluebird nest boxes.

• A detailed set of instructions and diagrams for building your own bluebird nest box
• A photo of a completed nest box
• Instructions on mounting and installing your box
• Photos of nests and eggs of birds you may find in bluebird boxes

Below are the results from recent years. Also browse the data for all years since 1962 to see what a difference the Dutchess County Bluebird Trail has made over the years.

For more information on bluebird trails throughout the United States, and to learn what you can do in your own yard for bluebirds, check out the North American Bluebird Society’s website or the New York State Bluebird Society’s website.

Dutchess County Bluebird Trail Data