Habitat and Wildlife Monitoring
Volunteers with Boulder County Audubon frequently participate in a variety of habitat and wildlife monitoring projects. Many of these projects are in conjunction with Boulder County Nature Association, the City of Boulder, and Boulder County Parks and Open Space.
Ecosystem Stewardship Initiative
Brown Creeper
Imagine a wild place in Boulder County that you visit several times a year, learning the names of the beetles and butterflies; following the blooming cycles of wildflowers and the breeding cycles of songbirds; quietly observing coyotes, foxes, and elk. Imagine this peaceful place being permanently monitored and protected through your efforts and the efforts of those who follow you. This is the vision of the Boulder County Ecosystem Stewardship Initiative, a volunteer project launched by the Boulder County Nature Association and Boulder County Audubon.
The project has three goals:
Monitor natural processes in Boulder County native ecosystems.
Use data collected to improve management and influence policy-making.
Recruit a cadre of naturalists to monitor and protect natural areas in perpetuity.
White-throated Swift
We invite everyone who cherishes the peace and beauty of natural places to consider becoming a steward. The only qualifications are an interest in nature, a desire to learn more, and a willingness to spend 4-6 mornings a year recording observations in a protected part of Boulder County. You might choose a canyon in the foothills, a prairie wildlife area such as Sawhill Ponds, or a favorite meadow or forest grove in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. As of August 2008, 60 volunteers had adopted 30 wild areas.
Volunteers receive training in forest inventory, breeding bird and butterfly survey techniques, and wildflower identification. However, no volunteer is expected to carry out all these tasks; instead, each is asked to track only mammal sightings, breeding bird populations, and recreational use each year. Beyond that, there is a “menu” of other things you can monitor as you become more comfortable with the area you’ve adopted and with the monitoring protocols. Each volunteer keeps all of his or her data in one Excel file, which is updated from year to year.
Become an Ecosteward
We organize a number of field trips and volunteer trainings each spring and summer. Feel free to drop in on any of these trips (always posted on this website), or give the organizer, Steve Jones, a call if you would like more information. Steve Jones, 303-494-2468; curlewsj@comcast.net
You can learn more about the program and recording data on the Boulder County Nature Association webpage
Nest Box Monitoring
Although it’s often referred to as a bluebird program, several other species also use the boxes. The goal is for every box to be checked and data recorded approximately weekly from May through July. Weekly recording assures that the number of eggs and hatched chicks are known, so that nesting success can be evaluated and yield an accurate count of the number fledged. Data are submitted to a national database maintained by Cornell University in September or October. Although many monitors return year after year, we generally need several new monitors each season. Monitoring the nests is enjoyable and rewarding. If you are interested in getting involved, contact the Bluebird Trail Coordinator.
Project NestWatch
All of the data collected from the Boulder County Audubon nest box trails is entered into Cornell University Lab of Ornithology Project NestWatch. This means that these data are not only accessible to scientists working to better understand avian biology but also to you! NestWatch provides many interactive tools to explore the data from maps to downloading the data. They also have many tools for learning more about building nest boxes designed for your area, identifying bird nests, and more. You can also participate in NestWatch on your own by becoming a certified NestWatcher.
A Short History of Boulder County Nest Monitoring
In the 1980s, the Western Bluebird was considered “rare and declining” in Boulder County, meaning that there were fewer than 3 known nesting pairs. (Current rare and declining list) In the seven years of the Boulder Audubon program, we have seen a dramatic increase in Western Bluebird (WEBL) nests and a slight decrease of Mountain Bluebird (MOBL) nests.
Walker Ranch has the longest history of nest box monitoring in Boulder County. The table below shows the bluebird nesting recorded in 1989-91 and 1995, the few years for which there are reasonably good records. A single WEBL nest was recorded in 1989, none in the other years. Although people seem to have looked at boxes in the late ’90s, they didn’t produce useful nesting records. There may have been more box use by WEBLs during 1996-2004, but there are no records.