So today was an exciting day for the Berks Bluebirds Team because we actually got to go out into the field and visit each and everyone of our 5 birdhouses. Our Bluebird houses are scattered throughout the campus along the edges of the Penn State property along Tulpehocken Road which is located behind the residence halls. Today, Nicolette, Hunter and I went out to each house and opened all of the houses and were able to clear them of the nests that were previously there from the year prior. By doing so we were able to see just how these birds build their nests, what they build their nests out of and get a better perspective o

n how important these houses are to their survival and growth. Each birdhouse had a nest in it and the twigs, grass, etc were nicely bundled up into a neat cluster which almost filled the entire birdhouse which surprised us! We were also told by one of the Penn State Berks Maintenance Crew who usually takes care of these birdhouses told us that Blue birds are not the only bird species to utilize these birdhouses.English Sparrows are another type of bird that populates this area and he said that these birds are mean and try to kick the bluebirds out of the houses. He also told us that we can tell when an English Sparrow is trying to build a nest because they do not use the typical twigs, leaves, grass, etc that bluebirds use; instead they will typically use garbage they find on the ground as well as some leaves and twigs, but mostly garbage. If we see these kinds of nests forming then we are supposed to get rid of them in order to make room for the bluebirds to make their nests. We actually found a nest in one of the houses that contained a lot of garbage and we suspect that this nest was created by one of these English Sparrows. We will be monitoring the progress of the nests and houses for the remaining weeks to come and see what kinds of birds are actually populating the birdhouses. Feel free to take a look at our birdhouses and the progress we made today!