2016 Happy New Year!

Winter Begins Photo 12/22/15

Our finial Walk and Talk Tour for the Green Meadows Preserve Bluebird Trail of 2015 was well attended, we had 22 very interested Friends of the Bluebird Trail come out.

Some of those in attendance were so inspired that they went ahead and purchased Nest Boxes and  small bird Feeders from George Burkett, who is the wood worker who has build all the boxes and feeders for the Bluebird Trail.





The Walk and Talk Tour was on Saturday December 19th and the first day of winter was the following Tuesday December 22nd, so this photo of the Tree of Life was for the Winter Photo. She is beautiful no matter what season.

We are still planting Trees/Shrubs on the Bluebird Trail that are berry producing and will serve as a natural perch when they mature.

This tree is a native dogwood that was sponsored by the ladies of the Daisies Garden Club of Marietta. This tree is location by Nest Box number 11 on the west side of the preserve.

We still have sponsor opportunities for native, fruit berry trees/shrubs to be planted as a perch at one of the Nest Boxes along the Bluebird Trail.

The cost of sponsorship is $100.00 for each tree, that covers the cost of the tree and material to plant it. A portion of each sponsorship goes toward expenses for food and such for the Bluebird Trail. We place a name maker with plant name, sponsor name and month and year you sponsor. We are a 501 (c) 3 so your sponsorship is tax deductible if you Make your checks payable to (Friends of Green Meadows Preserve, Inc.)

Mail your sponsorship to:

Jim Bearden

1648 Oakford Court

Marietta, GA 30064

 

We have only converted a couple of the Nest boxes to Roost Boxes for the winter. It has been so warm I have been delaying changing all of them over.

If we continue to get very cold weather for an extended period of time, I may convert the remaining boxes over to winter roost.

It takes putting a peace of cut cardboard in the bottom of the Nest Box to block the vent holes to help keep cold air out. Placing some dried grass on the cardboard and placing the ladder inside so that more than one or two birds can roost at any given time.


The door has to be reversed so the entry hole is at the bottom instead of the top. We will decide this week if we are going to change over the remaining Nest Boxes. They all have to be converted back to hole at top and ladder out by the end of February or first of March for the start of the 2016 nesting season.

I have had a number of people that have called or emailed  me in reference to the ladders. The cost is $10.00 per ladder, that covers the cost of the ladder and the postage to mail it to you.

We are in the process of working on Trail Maps with distances for each of the trails. We will be putting these up on the information boards for you to be able to see. We are working on a Tri-Fold Broachers with Bluebird Trail information on one side and the Trail Maps on the other. This will be placed at the information boards in a Broachers holder for your taking one if you wish.

We welcome your attendance at one or all of our educational series,

“Bluebird Trail Walk &Talk Tours”

 

2016 - First Quarter

Dates and Times

  

 Sat Jan 30^th, Sat Feb 20^th, Sat Mar 5^th   

(All Times: Saturday morning 10:00 AM - 12:00 Noon)

 

Be sure to bring your own drinking water, and please wear comfortable shoes for walking the short and easy 1.4 mile trail.

 

For questions: Call Jim B (cell) 404-202-8755 or jimbearden@bellsouth.net

Follow us at the Bluebird Trail Blog http://bluebirdtrail.blogspot.com/  

 

Green Meadows Preserve Bluebird Trail, Where Birds Come to Life!

Thanks for joining us along the Trail…..Jim B

The End of Nesting Season Has Come and We Are Into Fall Already!

The Tree of Life as it looked on the first day of Autumn 
Wednesday September 23, 2015. She continues to be a beautiful and amazing tree no matter which season it is. She is a beautiful focal point along the Bluebird Trail.

I would like to say a heart felt Thank you! To all the people who come out for the Walk and Talk Tours that we conduct throughout the year, we have had amazing success with the number of people who continue to show up for the tours.

A big Thank you! To all the friends of the Bluebird Trail, those who help me with the many choirs that are needed to be completed to insure the birds have a successful nesting season.

And to all the wonderful people who continue to make donations to the Bluebird Trail, some I know personally and some I have yet to meet. Your support and contributions help in offsetting the cost of feeding and caring for the birds throughout the year. Without your help it would be very difficult to carry on this beautiful project. Thank you!

The four stages of the Eastern Bluebird Nesting Season: They can have one to four broods during a successful Nesting Season. The Nesting season is mid February to mid to late August.

The building of the perfect nest using pine straw.

 The laying of the eggs, the female lays anywhere from 3 to 6 eggs, 3 to 4  for each brood is more the norm. 

 

 The busy time of the parents feeding the new hatched baby birds twice an hour each for 19 to 21 days. The dedication of the parents is unbelievable to watch.

The continued feeding of the young fledglings for 30 days after they have left the nest. That is the amount of time it takes for the new fledglings to learn to feed themselves. It is fun to watch the young birds setting on the feed stations, waiting for the parents to feed them the dried mealworms.

 

As Recorded With NestWatch For The 2015 Nesting Season, A Summary





The Cornell Lab of Ornithology

  32 - Total Nest Sites

  57 - Total Nesting Attempts

216 - Total Eggs

186 - Total Young

186 - Total Fledglings

210 - The Total with the results of Six additional Nest Boxes to be added to the NestWatch family for 2016.

We welcome your attendance at one or all of our educational series,

 

"Bluebird Trail Walk and Talk Tours"

 Fall - 2015 Dates and Times:

 

Oct. 17th, Nov. 7th and Dec. 19th

 

(All times: Saturday morning's 10:00 AM - 12:00 Noon)

 

Be sure to wear comfortable shoes for walking the 2.3 mile trail.

 

For questions: Call Jim B (cell) 404-202-8755 or jimbearden@bellsouth.net 

 

Green Meadows Preserve Park Bluebird Trail, Where Birds come to Life!

 

Thanks for joining us along the Trail.....Jim B

Hope Everyone had a wonderful 4th of July week-end.

The 4th started out a bit wet, but turned out to be a good afternoon and evening for the many fireworks displayed around town and the neighborhoods. We welcomed the rain as we have been hauling water to the sponsored Trees/Shrubs planted on the Bluebird Trail.

When we don't get rain for a whole week, my dog Daisy and I have to haul water out onto the Trail in five gallon buckets.

This is why we have only planted 6 of the sponsored Tree/Shrubs thus far, because we have to haul water to them if we don't get rain.

We will plant the remainder of the sponsored Tree's/Shrub's this fall when it is cooler and the Tree's/Shrub's can get established during the fall/winter when we normally get more rain on a regular basis. We still have some sponsorship's available for anyone wishing to sponsor a tree/shrub.

To whomever dropped off the two pairs of Binoculars at the shed, we really appreciate your doing so. We need more Binoculars if anyone has pairs they don't use or want any longer. We have placed a container under the shed by the back gate for you to put the Binoculars on. Thank you!

UGA Cobb County Extension  Family Fun Day! ( Saturday, August 1st )

Join us in celebrating the finale of UGA Cobb County Extension's Horticulture/Agriculture Awareness Week!



Start off the day with our 8:00 a.m. tour of the Bluebird Habitat Trail followed by fun family activities and outdoor classes starting at 10:00 a.m. with activities ending at 2:00 p.m.

Visit the Community Garden, Orchard, Period Garden and Cherokee Garden. You can also visit the bee hives!

Bring the whole family and your picnic lunch! We will have a corn roast and watermelon stand.

Nest Watch - 2015 Quick Summary   
                   

 

  32 - Total Nest Sites Monitored

 

  56 - Total Nesting Attempts

 

201 - Total Eggs

 

168 - Total Young

 

147 - Total Fledglings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We welcome your attendance at one or all of our educational series,

"Bluebird Trail Walk & Talk Tours"

 

( Fall - 2015 )

 

Dates and Times

 

Oct. 17th, Nov. 7th and Dec. 19th

(All times: Saturday Morning's 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.)

 

Be sure to bring your own drinking water, insect spray/repellent

and please wear comfortable shoes for walking the 2.3 mile trail.

 

For questions: Email me at jimbearden@bellsouth.net

 

Green Meadows Preserve Park Bluebird Trail

 

Where Birds Come to Life!

 

Thanks for joining us along the Trail.....Jim B

Happy Fathers Day and Happy First Day of Summer

Welcome to the first day of Summer on the Green Meadows Preserve Park Bluebird Trail.

This is the summer season photo of the Tree of Life, she is so full, green and beautiful during this season.

Come bring your easy chair and a bottle of water and come set a spell during these mid 90's HOT days.

She will make you feel cooler just by looking at her, must less setting under her beautiful green cool canopy.


Our last Walk and Talk Tour on Saturday June 13th was a big success, we had 25 brave people come out on a HOT Saturday morning to learn more about the Bluebird Trail and Bluebird.

We had a number of people that were back for there second Walk and Talk Tour. It is always good when we see faces that we recognize and they have guest with them.

One of the items we need for the Bluebird Trail and the many kids and school groups that we do field trips for is Binoculars new or used.

The kids love to take Binoculars on their walks, they think they can see so many more birds and they can see them up close. We put numbers on the binoculars and they check them out and in after their walk.

 We have a donation box inside the gate under the shed for you to drop off any binoculars that you might wish to donate to the Bluebird Trail. Anything you do is always appreciated and used on the trail.

The Bluebird Trail is totally funded through Sponsorships, Contributions and friends of the Bluebird Trail. My pocket funds the difference that it takes to feed the birds during nesting season to help with the healthy development of the baby birds and the cold winter to help keep them alive.

During the Nesting season we feed them Dried Mealworms, to help supplement their insect diet.

Now their are a lot of wild black berries in the park that helps with their food source.

If you come and walk the trail you will see a lot of the wild black berries as you walk the trail.

This is why we are planting berry producing shrubs/trees that are sponsored by different individuals to replace the man made perches at each Nest Box. This will help to provide food during the fall and winter to cut down on our mealworm cost. They are all native trees/shrubs and we have planted 6 already and have 15 that have been sponsored. We will plant the remainder of shrubs/trees in the fall, so they can get established during the fall and winter when we get rain.

Right now we are having to haul water in five gallon buckets out to the 6 shrubs/trees that we have planted. With this mid 90 degree weather and not much rain, we are trying to keep them alive until we get some rain on a regular basis.

I am so excited this year we have hatched and fledged to broods of Tree  Swallows. Last year they made a nest in Nest Box #16 but never laid eggs. This year they made a nest in #19 and #24 laid eggs, hatched and fledged 5 baby Tree Swallows from both nest boxes. They are such a beautiful bird with white chest blue/green feathers on their backs. As you see they use grass and lots of feathers to build their nest.

I hope on your next walk on the Trail you will be able to see the adults flying around the open fields.

Look for this logo to be around the trail soon as our official logo giving directions and distances for the Bluebird Trail. This logo was designed and developed by a group of Kennesaw State Students for the Friends of Green Meadows Preserve Park.

We hope to be able to have the signs in areas of question as to which way you should go to follow the Trail. As you can see it is of the Bluebird and our Tree of Life in the Park.

NestWatch - 2015 Quick Summary

 32 - Total Nest Sites being monitored

 47 - Total Nesting Attempts

177 - Total Eggs

143 - Total Young

122 - Total Fledglings

 

Remember

 

We will discontinue our Walk and Talk Tours for the Summer,

 

we will start the Tours again in the Fall, 

 

look for the scheduled dates in our next blog.

 

 

Any questions: email me at

 

jimbearden@bellsouth.net

 

 

Green Meadows Preserve Park Bluebird Trail

 

Where Birds Come to Life!

 

 

Thanks for joining us along the Trail.....Jim B

Welcome To June! Can you believe that Summer is Just Around The Corner!

WOW! Can you believe that we are already into the 6th Month of this year already, half of 2015 is about to be gone. I guess as I am getting a little older, time seems to be passing a little faster. Father's Day Sunday June 21st is the official first day of Summer.

We will need to take a summer season photo of the Tree of Life, as we do for each new season on the first day of that season at 9:00 am in the morning from the same location each time.

This is a photo shot of the Tree of Life on the first day of Spring March 20th. Look for the summer photo shot and see the big difference.

This is the Southern Red Oak that is located near Nest Box number 3 on the Bluebird Trail.

She is a 170 plus years old and has a most beautiful shape as you will see with the June 21st Summer Photo shot.

Be sure to come back for a visit to see the difference that three months can make in the look of this beautiful tree.

On May 14th we had the Midway Covenant School 3rd grade class back for their second annual Green Meadows Preserve Park Bluebird Trail field trip. We had 33 3rd graders and 12 adult teachers or parents on the field trip. It was such a fun day for the kids, they had much fun.

A couple of photo's from the day's outing.
We enjoying having the school back for the second year.
                                                                                                 
 It was quite an adventure for all the boys and girls picking all the beautiful wild flowers. We saw a lot of birds this morning and especially Bluebirds.

I hope the kids will tell their parents about the trail and bring them out to walk the trail with them. It is a beautiful park!

On Saturday May 30th we had our scheduled and advertised in the Life Line section of the MDJ for our Walk and Talk Tour. We had 24 people show for the tour and they were very interested in learning more about birds and especially Bluebirds.

NOTE: We have one more scheduled Walk and Talk Tour on Saturday June 13th at 10:00 am and then we will discontinue the tours until the fall. The summer months are just to hot for me, the people taking the tours and especially the Bluebirds. They are just trying to get through the HOT summer months, laying eggs, raising and feeding babies until they are big enough to (fledge) leave the nest. Once they leave the nest the parents still feed them for thirty days until they learn to feed themselves. It is a fun sight to see 4 or 5 babies lined up on a tree limb crying for the parents to bring them food. Look for our Walk and Talk Tours to start up again in October on a monthly basis one or two times a month.                                     

                                 
I had the opportunity to speak to the Sierra Club Group this past week for their monthly meeting that was held at Life University. We had 24 very interested outdoor adventurous members in attendance.

I hope that I might have pecked their interest enough to get them to come out to the Bluebird Trail for a walk on the Trail.

Nest Watch - 2015 Quick Summary as of today!

 32 - Total Nest Sites being monitored

  46 - Total Nesting Attempts

159 - Total Eggs

122 - Total Young

  97 - Total Fledglings

Remember

 

Date and Time:

 

(Saturday June 13th 10:00AM - 12:00 Noon)

 

Be sure to bring your own drinking water, sun screen, hat/cap

insect/repellent and please wear comfortable shoes

for walking the 2.3 mile easy trail.

 

Any Questions: email me at jimbearden@bellsouth.net

 

Green Meadows Preserve Park Bluebird Trail,

Where Birds Come to Life!

 

Thanks for joining us along the Trail.....Jim B



 

 

 

"WOW" 2015 Nesting Season Is Off To A Record Year!

The 2015 nesting season is off to a record year on the Green Meadows
Preserve Park Bluebird Trail.

Sorry if it seems like I was missing in action, it has been so long since we up dated this blog.




During the off season we were busy feeding and keeping the birds warm with our new roost box design, it seemed to work quite well.They used most of the Nest Boxes as roost during the cold winter months.



I had some down time with knee replacement surgery during January and the rehab that goes with that type of surgery.

Now I am back on the Trail checking the Nest Boxes on a weekly basis with the help of some very special Friends of the Bluebird Trail. If you would like to become a Friend of the Bluebird Trail and do some training on how to help with some of the weekly task on the Trail just send me a email to jimbearden@bellsouth.net and we can add you to our training classes for a date in the very near future.

The Bluebirds are so busy building nest and laying eggs for their first brood of the nesting season. If you are taking a walk on the trail at Green Meadows Preserve Park you are sure to see many Bluebirds in the area.

I think this is going to be a record year for the Bluebird Trail in the number of new babies that are hatched and fledged.

We have added 2 Nest Boxes to the North Marietta Community Garden, 1 at Still Elementary School and 4 for a Girl Scout Troop at Lost Mountain Park. This gives us a total of 32 Nest Boxes that are being monitored on a weekly basis and recorded with
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology Nest Watch. They record and track people like us through out North America on how successful we are in our efforts in helping the Eastern Bluebird to reproduce and increase the numbers of this beautiful song bird.

Nest Watch - 2015 Quick Summary as of last week !

  32 - Total Nest Sites being monitored  

  39 - Total Nesting Attempts

124- Total Eggs

  97 - Total Young

  87 - Total Fledglings 

For the 2014 Nesting Season we had a total of 133 Fledglings for the nesting year. The nesting season in Marietta, GA starts as early as mid February and ends as late as the end of August. Last year the last brood fledged out of Nest Box number 18 on August 28th.

We welcome your attendance at one or all of our educational series, 

" Bluebird Trail Walk and Talk Tours"  

 

Dates and Times:

 

May 30th and June 13th

(All Times: Saturday morning's 10:00AM - 12:00 Noon) 

 

Be sure to bring your own drinking water, sun screen, insect/repellent and please

wear comfortable shoes for walking the 2.3 mile easy trail.

 

For questions: email me at jimbearden@bellsouth.net

 

Green Meadows Preserve Park Bluebird Trail,

Where Birds Come to Life!

 

Thanks for joining us along the Trail.....Jim B

This Up Date To The Blog is Way Overdue. Sorry!

 

Dad taking Dried Mealworms to the young birds



A great nesting season



The Tree of Life
First Day of Autumn

Fruit from Dogwood "Cornus  florida"

I can't believe it has been 2 1/2 months since we have updated this blog for you. It has been a very busy summer and now into the fall on the Bluebird Trail. We had a fantastic year this 2014 nesting season.

A sad start

The nesting season started early with Nest Box #2 having five Bluebird eggs in early March. They were developing and getting strong and close to time for them to fledge the nest at around 16 to 17 days. I checked them on Wednesday and they were getting really big and strong, hopping around in the nest and looking out of the Nest Box hole at the big strange world outside. Sunday I returned to check the box one more time as I new they were close to leaving. I checked with my mirror as I always do to see what was going on in the nest. I saw no movement, so I opened the door and looked again, I could see birds in the bottom of the nest, but no movement nor any parents around trying to dive bomb me, or scolding me when it is close to fledging time, to get me away from the nest.

As the Nest Boxes are located in a Park and being in the wild and as nature will have it sometimes, something had gotten the parents and the big Bluebird babies were dead in the bottom of their nest. They had died of starvation and dehydration as a result of the parents not being able to feed them. The season started off with a very sad Sunday afternoon for me! I took the nest out with the five Bluebird babies and buried them near the Nest Box #2 in the park.

Nature at work



I tell this story because I want you to know of the many happy events that happen with the hatching of the eggs and the developing of the birds and the beauty when they are big enough to fledge the nest and take their place in the wild of the park. But with the joy also sometimes comes the sadness when things happen that the birds don't hatch or they do hatch but don't make it. It is truly our loss not to have them make it and take their place in the beautiful wild and the outdoors.

It's like Christmas morning

With that bit of bad news out of the way, we had a wonderful and exciting nesting season. It is like Christmas morning for me every time I go out and check the Nest Boxes, what will I find? Will it be a nest, or will I find some beautiful blue eggs or maybe some eggs with a couple of chicks that was just hatched looking all naked and new to this world. Some days I find a nest full of already hatched birds, when they hear me they open their mouths thinking I might be a parent bringing food for them.

2014 Quick Summary

 

 The Cornell

 Lab of Ornithology

"NESTWATCH"

 

- 28 Total Nest Sites

 

- 75 Total Nesting Attempts

- 152 Total Eggs

-148 Total Young

- 133 Total Fledglings

The last to leave the nest!

The last Nest Box to hatch and fledge Bluebirds this season was Nest Box #18, they build a nest in July, the Mom laid 5 beautiful blue eggs. She sat on them to incubate them for 14 days to hatch them, I checked the nest right after the first one hatched early on August the 7th. I checked back a couple of days later and no more had hatched, this one little bird was laying in the nest with four un-hatched eggs. I waited another week, then I checked the Nest Box again, no more babies. One big baby and four un-hatched blue eggs. With the summer heat the eggs can explode and make quite the mess in the nest for the one little guy, so I used my mirror and a spoon and took out the 4 un-hatched eggs. This gave the one Bluebird more room and no chance of a mess with broken eggs. The one bird developed, the mom and dad feeding him twice an hour as they always do, whether it is one bird or six birds. My wife Kathy said the big guy might not be able to get out the Nest Box hole when it is time to leave, since he was getting all the food. She said I might have to open the front door when it was time for him to leave the nest. He was able to get out the hole on his own, he/she fledged on August 26th, making this bird the last of the 2014 season to leave the nest.

Celebrating three years

With the Green Meadows Preserve Park Bluebird Trail now at the end of our 3rd full nesting season. We stop and reflect on all that has been accomplished on the trail. With 25 Nest Boxes all sponsored and placed along the trail. With 10 Feed Stations all with sponsors and placed around the trail. One Nest Box at Still Elementary School and Two Nest Boxes at North Marietta Community Garden.

Berries that Bluebird's love

Growing the numbers!

Our first year, which was the year we put up our 1st Nest Box and the hatching and fledging of our first six baby blue birds. The 2013 year was an amazing  year with the fledging of 111 birds,  this year was a awesome year with  the fledging of 133 birds and many successful Walk and Talk Tours for the general public, private garden groups, senior wellness groups and Elementary school kids on field trips as well as a number of home schooled groups taking part in the tours of the Bluebird Trail.

Sponsor a Berry Bush or Tree

With that being said we still have much to accomplish along the Bluebird Trail this Fall and in the coming year. We are always in need of $$ contributions to help with the cost of food (Dried Mealworms) to help feed the birds for the cold winter months.

Bluebirds love poke weed

We are in the process of converting some or all of the man made perches at each of the Nest Boxes  over a period of time to a live Tree/Shrub that is a berry producing, that will provide berries as a food source in the fall and winter, to help offset the food cost. We are looking for people who would like to become a sponsor of one of the Berry-Producing type of Trees/Shrubs that will help attract and feed Bluebirds and other small birds during the cold winter months. For a contribution of $100.00 you can become a sponsor of one of these Native Plants that will help make the Green Meadows Preserve Park Bluebird Trail Environmentally Responsible Landscaping for Bluebirds and Other Birds.


Mom feeding her young baby Bluebird

Winter roosting boxes

We are also in the process of converting most of the Nest Boxes over to Roost's for the winter months, so the Bluebirds have a dry and warm place to get out of the elements during the cold winter months. With the help of George Burkett, which he has (made all Nest Boxes and Feed Stations for the Bluebird Trail.) He is now making us a wooden ladder to place inside the boxes, so four or five of them can sit on the roost and get out of the weather. We are reversing the doors, so the hole is at the bottom of the Nest Box, that way they sit up at the top of the inside of the box. With the help of a number of people who have become volunteer's and friend's of the Bluebird Trail, this will take a little time to complete and finish all 25 Nest Boxes.

Next scheduled walk and talk tour 

 

We hope to see you on one of our scheduled Walk and Talk Tours. The next one is scheduled for Saturday November 22nd at 10:00 AM in the morning.

 

Green Meadows Preserve Park Bluebird Trail,

Where Birds Come to Life!

 

Thanks for your support and for

joining us along the Bluebird Trail.....Jim B