IIT Spring Newsletter 2026 - Nesting Season Begins

Written by Chloe Joule

Nesting season is here! In late Spring 2025, IIT installed six bluebird boxes at our Blueberry Hill Preserve. Working closely with Dr. Sarah DuRant of the University of Arkansas, we installed data loggers at each box to track nest temperature. Dr. DuRant's research in Arkansas focuses on the relationship between temperature fluctuations and nesting habits in bluebirds. We are very happy to be able to provide her team with our data from the northeast. We were surprised to find two of the six boxes immediately occupied that first season - one by a pair of tree swallows and one by eastern bluebirds.

Now, IIT has observed our first occupied box of the 2026 season! To prepare for the arrival of this years' nesting friends, we had some work to do. In mid-March, I met with Sarah’s husband and fellow professor of biology, JD Willson, at Blueberry Hill to download information from the six data loggers and reset them for the coming season. Following this, IIT had a bird box cleaning workshop on Saturday, April 4th. This is an essential annual chore for anyone with bird boxes on their property. Removing any remaining nests and disposing of them well away from the nesting box, reduces the potential for parasites and pathogens from the previous year to infect this season’s brood. After removing the nest, we cleaned them with a solution of vinegar and water (1 Cup Vinegar : 1 Gallon Water). Our goal was to wipe clean the inside of the nesting boxes of any droppings from the previous year, using this solution and a stiff-wire brush. After getting the inside suitably clean, we inspected the outer bird box, wiping it down with the vinegar solution and ridding it of any insect egg sacs. Though only two of the six bird boxes were used last season, we still visited and cleaned each box to prepare for the coming season.

Turns out, we were just in time! Less than a week after our cleaning day, box #6 (used the previous year by eastern bluebirds) began to see nest building activity. On Tuesday, April 14, we moved the data probe, cleverly disguised as a bluebird egg, into the nest to begin getting accurate temperature readings.

Monitoring each occupied box during nesting season is a large undertaking and IIT is interested in volunteers to adopt a bird box to monitor. If you are interested in becoming a bird box monitor, please contact Chloe Joule at cjoule@islesboroislandstrust.org or (207) 734-6907.

Now that our bird friends have returned and nesting is underway, we ask that all who visit Blueberry Hill leash their dogs when walking the Blueberry Field Loop. Thank you for your cooperation in keeping our nesting birds safe and undisturbed.