PA BLUEBIRD NESTBOX CAMERA SHOWS PROGRESS OF NEST
HARRISBURG ? As visitors from around the world tune into the Pennsylvania Game Commission?s webcasting of a live video feed from a bluebird nestbox, the first of four bluebird eggs hatched. The webcast originates from a nestbox on the grounds of the Game Commission?s Harrisburg Headquarters, and will soon allow viewers a chance to watch the adult bluebirds feed their chicks.
To view the live feed, visit the agency?s website (
www.pgc.state.pa.us) and click on the ?Bluebird Nestbox Cam? icon under the opening photo in the center of the homepage.
?After several weeks of nest building and waiting, the bluebird nestbox camera now is allowing viewers to follow along with an active nest,? said Carl G. Roe, Game Commission executive director. ?The best way to get Pennsylvanians ? in fact most Americans ? excited about wildlife is to show them what makes wildlife so irreplaceable and priceless.?
In late April, the female bluebird laid four eggs, which began hatching today, May 10. The other three eggs are expected to hatch within the next 24 hours. The chicks? eyes should open within one week and, depending on conditions, they may fledge ? leave the nest and fly on their own ? by the end of May. The adult bluebirds may nest a second and possibly third time.
Launched in 2009, the bluebird camera was the agency?s first foray into the world of live nest camera feeds. It provides a color, infrared video feed and audio from the bluebird nestbox, which is adjacent to the agency?s headquarters. A live feed also is broadcast to a monitor in the agency?s lobby.
?In the early 1960s, the eastern bluebird was hanging on for dear life,? said Dan Brauning, Game Commission Wildlife Diversity Section supervisor. ?The species was suffering from a European invasion of house sparrows and European starlings. Today, it?s not hard to imagine the harm that would come from releasing starlings and house sparrows in New York City during the 1800s. But back then, at a time when people were trying to reverse declining songbird populations, it seemed like the right thing to do in New York.
?The starling spread quickly across America. Released in 1890 and 1891, starlings were building nests in California by the 1940s. What our forefathers didn?t expect, in addition to the rapid range expansion of these alien species, was that they would almost immediately begin competing with bluebirds and other beneficial songbirds for cavity nesting sites.?
Bluebirds were enjoying a satisfying existence around 1900. It is when some ornithologists believe Pennsylvania?s bluebird population was at its largest, because fully two-thirds of the Commonwealth was farmland. But the runaway populations of starlings and sparrows would begin to compete with and ultimately cripple the bluebird?s ability to secure adequate nesting.
The species? problems would be further compounded by farmlands reverting to forestland or being swallowed by development, the increased use of pesticides, and the replacement of wooden fence-posts with metal posts.
By 1960, the bottom was ready to fall out, and the Game Commission and many other conservation agencies and organizations launched an aggressive campaign to rescue the species. With the aid of the Game Commission?s Howard Nursery, bluebird nestboxes and bluebird nestbox kits are available for the public to place afield. Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts became involved, as well as 4-H Clubs, schools and Audubon chapters. Bluebirds became the poster child for efforts aimed at getting people to do something for wildlife in their backyards.
?Today, bluebirds are back in a big way, even in the southeastern counties, where they compete heavily with large populations of house sparrows,? Brauning said. ?It?s fair to say that our bluebird population is stronger today than it has been in 50 years. With time and continued assistance from caring Pennsylvanians, it seems likely bluebirds will continue to prosper.?
For more information on bluebirds, visit the Game Commission?s website (
www.pgc.state.pa.us), click on ?Wildlife? in the menu bar in the banner, then choose ?Bluebird? from the listing under the ?Wild Birds and Birding? section.
