The Mountain Bluebird Trails Conservation Society is thrilled to celebrate a 50th anniversary milestone at their upcoming annual general meeting this Saturday.
President Jim Leitch says the society initially got its start with the observation of a decline in the prairie grasslands and the habitat loss – where bluebirds normally nest.
“They’re cavity dwellers, so they usually nest in trees and other cavities. But with the loss of the Prairie grasslands and increasing development, those kinds of cavities were becoming less and less available. We, as a society, decided the best thing to do is to increase that habitat loss by installing nest boxes on mainly fence lines, but anywhere we can get them up. That’s what we’ve done over the last 50 years,” explains Leitch.
Leitch adds there are roughly 2,700 nest boxes for the mountain bluebird in southern Alberta. “That’s our main goal and our main purpose.”
Mountain bluebird conservation in southern Alberta was pioneered by the late Duncan Mackintosh of Lethbridge, who started setting out nest boxes in 1974.
Annually, Leitch says, society members get excited when mountain bluebirds come back to the area – with their anticipated return this month. “We’re just getting ready to prepare our boxes and all our trail monitors, which we have around 110 or so that monitor these trails. They just get their boxes ready for the bluebirds to pair off, start building a nest and raising their young.”
The society works to bring together trail monitors from across southern Alberta – spanning Medicine Hat and the Cypress Hills area in the east to Pincher Creek and the Oldman River headwaters in the west.
According to Leitch, the society is volunteer-based and funded through donations. “We’re always looking for volunteers to either become a trail monitor or perhaps come on our board.”
“If anyone is interested, we certainly encourage them to come to our AGM this Saturday,” says Leitch. “And they can hear a lot more about what we do.”
The AGM will begin at 1 p.m. at the Helen Schuler Nature Centre and will feature a presentation by Myrna Pearman, a biologist, enthusiastic nature writer and photographer. Society membership is free.