CITY CENTER AUDUBON CLUB MONITORS NEST BOXES TO HELP SAVE LOCAL BLUEBIRDS

The Sun City Center Audubon Club is preparing for its eighth summer of the Bluebird Project, an initiative started to save the bluebird population in the area.

Each summer, five teams monitor 25 bluebird boxes for sparrow invasions, eggs and fledglings. The Audubon Club averages 100-150 fledglings from the boxes each year. Their eforts have stabilized the local bluebird population.

“We knew [bluebirds] were around, and they are here year-round. They don’t just nest here. They don’t migrate. They’re here year-round. So, we decided to do this project. One of our members, Clara Clancy, suggested we contact the Boy Scouts and see if an Eagle Scout wanted to do it, so that’s how it got started originally,” said Conservation Chair Melanie Higgins. Higgins was looking for a way to save the bluebird population and reached out to local Eagle Scouts. In 2015, they constructed 20 boxes, and they added five more in the following years.

Bluebirds are considered secondary cavity nesters, meaning they nest in tree holes made by woodpeckers or other animals. However, residents tend to cut down these trees that have cavities in them because they are afraid the trees will fall on their house.

“That’s why they were losing their habitat,