Sacajawea Audubon members maintain and monitor bluebird boxes around the Gallatin Valley. Some members are also federally permitted to band cavity nesting birds through the US Geological Survey. This project was started in 1969 by Louis Moos, Cliff Davis and other Sacajawea Audubon members. It was expanded in the 1970s & 1980s by Mary Geis. The Sacajawea Audubon Bluebird Trail Project now encompasses three monitored routes, each with around 100 nest boxes. Volunteers go out every two weeks during the nesting season (mid-April to late July) to check the boxes, and collect data. Banding data is sent to the Bird Banding Lab. Monitoring bluebird boxes gives volunteers an up-close and personal look at the lives of these amazing birds, including nest building, egg laying and raising young. Through banding, it’s possible to learn that many of these bluebirds return each year to nest, sometimes to the exact same box. Historic nesting data from this project from 1970-2021 is now entered in Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Nest Watch online database, and is the longest dataset of any bluebird species in North America.
If you are interested in learning more about the bluebird trail, contact Lou Ann Harris by email louann@sacajaweaaudubon.org. You can also visit the North American Bluebird Society or Mountain Bluebird Trails for information and nest box plans.
If you would like to build your own bluebird box, here is the nest box plan we use:
Skyler Ochs nest box