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At the Michigan Bluebird Soc Fest in Ann Arbor I learned about an ebird sight that allows a person to filter out all but recent bluebird migration sightings. Today I’m seeing a very small number of sightings in my area so I am holding off installing my trail nest boxes. I thought that with the unusually warm winter/spring that they would be arriving earlier than normal. However, an expert at the Fest mentioned arrivals will have more to do with food availability than temperature. That theory, though obvious, didn’t register in my brain until I asked about early migration.
Use the “Date” function near the top of the page if you want to see only recent sightings. Not so useful if you are in areas with year round populations.
Tim C. WI/MI border.
Tim. I’m not from Michigan but here in NW Ohio, (Toledo area) our bluebirds mostly overwinter here. They’ve already scouted out nestboxes and I have one nest of 5 eggs in my property and 4 other complete nests on my 14 box trail. So I would not wait.
Mine start claiming nestboxes in January. Better to be safe and get those up instead of wishing you had. I’ve seen many photos of bluebirds overwintering in Michigan too.
Just a suggestion.Tammy
Thanks Tammy. I’m monitoring that web site and as I see more sightings north of Green Bay I will kick it in gear placing boxes. It’ll only take a day or two to get the trail installed.
At the MBS fest there was one presenter that resided in Antrim County Michigan who mentioned he was seeing bluebirds in March. Antrim is close to my latitude but lake Michigan makes the climate there less variable than here on the WI/MI border.
I know a lot of folks leave their boxes up year round but I’m afraid that doing that will only weather the boxes prematurely. And the guy from Antrim County said he leaves his boxes open all winter after having mice take up winter residence in closed boxes. Many of hos boxes were made unusable (urine). I’m learning so much from this and other sites. But being in the north where we only have migrating bluebirds it is difficult to apply some practices where they are present year round.
Thanks for your advice. I’m hoping that last year’s May 16th first siting is a little earlier this year.
Tim C. WI/MI border.
Where in Michigan are you from? Just wondering how north are you? If your a Facebook user there are a lot of Bluebird groups there. This group used to be hopping but FB kind of changed that.
Tammy
The Wisconsin part of Michigan : )
I’m on the UP border in the Iron Mtn area, specifically Niagara, WI
Nope, I gave up on FB many years ago. I’ve been learning to use ebird for info on migration. It seems to be fairly accurate. It’ll be a few weeks before the migration reaches here. We had six inches of wet snow a week ago and temps are not ideal yet for bugs that bluebirds seem to prefer.
Tim C. WI/MI border.
I’ve installed 16 nest boxes on two bluebird trails over the last 48 hours. I also carried a “Leopold” bench out to my largest trail to sit and listen. I was excited to see Tree Swallows (4) swooping around the field two days ago so I quickly installed two boxes in the area when I saw them inspecting what I call a “decoy” nest box. The decoys are there to give those little rascal House Wrens something to fill with sticks. It stays up year round unlike my bluebird nest boxes which I remove for winter.
After installing the rest of the 13 boxes on that trail I sat down on the bench to rest and watch. As I sat there I had Merlin listening and my ebird app open to document birds I saw. I swear I heard a bluebird but I was skeptical. Maybe it was just a very horse Robin. I happened to look at Merlin and there it was, an Eastern Bluebird was documented on the screen. Would Merlin make a mistake like that? After listening for a few minutes and searching with my binoculars I decided to take a walk to see if I could get a visual. Of course it stopped singing and I never saw it. I guess I won’t know if it was really a bluebird. It seems early compared to last year’s first sighting on May 16. But it has been a very strange winter, so maybe. I’ll go back this afternoon and again tomorrow and see if I can get a visual on it.
Tim C. WI/MI border.
Merlin of course does make mistakes quite often but I’m guessing it’s right. Id be surprised if you didn’t have bluebirds in your area right now. They were probably in your area before May 6th last year but you just didn’t see them.
Canada already has purple Martins. And bluebirds usually migrate before martins and tree swallows normally.
Keep us posted on your success.Tammy
Happy day! M&F EBB spotted this morning entering one of my trail nest boxes. That’s almost four weeks earlier than 2023. Happy, happy!
A couple other boxes are being watched very closely by Tree Swallows.
Tim C. WI/MI border.
That’s pretty exciting seeing bluebirds a month earlier than last year…..I think it’s going to be a great season! Happy birding.
Judy – Michigan
TimC, Thanks for mentioning the Merlin Bird ID app. I did not know about it. So, I downloaded it and went out into the yard. In under 5 minutes it had heard 8 different birds. One of the birds was a Nashville Warbler (said rare). I thought it was super cool, it’s a fun birding tool.
I saw the 1st Baltimore Oriole here in Michigan on April 27th. No hummingbirds yet, maybe tomorrow. I’m ready……their nectar feeders are out.
Judy – Michigan
Yes, I’ve found Merlin and ebird very useful. I’m not really an experienced birder but Merlin’s Sound ID is amazing.
I can ID many of the common larger birds on my own but I’m challenged with all the small sparrow and warbler sized birds. I’ve decided on my daily hikes that when I, or Merlin hears a species that I don’t know I will try to get a visual. Then I can add it to my ebird “Track” which keeps track of my distance traveled, location and what birds I’ve gotten a visual ID of.
Even if you are sitting in your yard you can use the track function to document birds you see and then name your own personal location (such as “Home Backyard”) and mark it as a “Stationary” birding session. I’m still learning it’s options.
Recently I spotted a Ruby Crowned Kinglet and a Yellow Rumped Warbler. I’m still looking for my dad’s favorite little bird, the Red Breasted Matress Thrasher. : )
Tim C. WI/MI border.
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