A flash of russet breast, ever-flitting from perch to ground on a body of cobalt blue. A cheery, non-stop tune piped from atop a flowering dogwood. Treating our senses every spring is that popular harbinger of the season—the Eastern bluebird.

Appreciate the bluebird and you have to appreciate the work of hundreds of volunteers across the state who have guided the beloved songbird onto the rebound trail. If you enjoy seeing them around Maurice K. Goddard State Park, you can thank one very special volunteer whose dedication to the bird and its habitat have earned her DCNR’s 2013 Cavity Nest Monitor of the Year Award.

Donna Lang of Hadley, Mercer County, was chosen from more than 150 volunteers statewide and honored for her “long-term dedication and enthusiasm” displayed over nine years while volunteering to monitor and help protect and propagate Eastern bluebirds and other cavity nesting bird species as part of the Bureau of State Parks’ monitoring program.

At least 90 nesting boxes on the state park grounds near Sandy Lake, Mercer County, are supervised by Mrs. Lang. Add to those two purple martin colonies drawn to hanging gourds, and wood duck nesting boxes erected around the park’s Lake Wilhelm. When her volunteer duties reach full speed, Lang visits the park several times a week, erecting and repairing nesting boxes, cleaning them, and keeping track of their occupants. It is a labor of love benefiting all winged park visitors, but she definitely has her favorite.

“The bluebird,” she said. “I really do like them. We always had some on our home property and, while I like to help the other birds, the bluebird is just such a neat bird. They have such a nice little song, and they always need our help.”

They needed help, for sure, last spring. Colder than normal temperatures early in the nesting season, wet summer days, and a variety of predators kept Lang busy in the fields and woodlot borders at her favorite state park. Disappointments, sometimes occurring almost daily, come with that turf, said the 62-year-old retired Department of Welfare worker.

Though husband, Daryl, helps with the replacement of damaged nesting boxes and outfitting with guards to keep intruders out, predation always takes a toll. Snakes and raccoons lead the cavity nester’s enemy list, Lang said, but there are other daily threats.

“You lose a lot with the different predators,” she said. “Last year started out good with at least 30 of the boxes having nesting bluebirds and then we started losing some. I did have a lot more predation last year, usually a snake or a raccoon. And then you have the puzzling losses -- when all eggs disappear—completely gone—as if to an alien. It’s just puzzling sometimes when you lose all the eggs but the nest is not disturbed.”

Losses are not limited to the bluebird, the award winner notes. A vigilant eye and protective hand also are needed to make sure the young chickadee, wren, tree swallow and wood duck all take flight.

Spring cleaning begins early for Donna Lang at Maurice K. Goddard State Park where the volunteer’s efforts to aid bluebirds and other winged species earned her DCNR’s  2013 Cavity Nest Monitor of the Year Award.But, if it’s the bluebird that embodies your spring, Mrs Lang has some suggestions to help draw that cheery harbinger.

Most revolve around habitat: “If you want to put up nesting boxes, basically they must be an open area, but not too far from a tree or bush where the young ones can fly when they fledge. Too close draws the house sparrows and wrens. And, if boxes already are up, make sure they are cleaned out by late March or early April.

Soon, it will be spring house-cleaning time for Lang. Accompanied by the family dog, she’ll start making her rounds, covering about 14 miles around the park lake. Regardless of weather, she’ll be there.

“I just do it because I like the birds,” she says matter-of-factly. “And, it’s great exercise for me and my dog.”

It’s much more than that, says Maurice K. Goddard State Park Manager William Wasser:

“It is very clear to all of us who know Donna, that she is passionate about helping out cavity nest species. To install nest boxes in just the right habitat takes a lot of time and effort but the program here at Goddard would not be the success that it is were it not for the tremendous number of hours that Donna spends cleaning and monitoring the nest boxes every week during the nesting seasons.

“Donna spends countless hours in the park monitoring the cavity nest species and also donates her own money and time in building and installing predator guards on the bluebird box posts. Habitat projects like this simply wouldn’t be accomplished without the help of dedicated volunteers, and I am so glad that she was recognized for her efforts.”

Since starting with the program in 2005, Mrs. Lang along with a few other cavity-nest monitors have overseen the successful fledging of approximately 800 eastern bluebirds at the park. Last year she and other volunteers across the state helped fledge 2,364 eastern bluebirds and 3,654 other cavity-nesting species.

Despite a colder than normal spring and wet summer, state park officials said an increase in the number of cavity-nesting boxes allowed most parks to experience some success as is evident in a slight increase in fledgling numbers compared to 2012. Since the program’s beginning in 1980, volunteers have fledged over 59,000 eastern bluebirds and 45,000 other cavity-nesting species.

The Bureau of State Parks’ Cavity-Nesting Trail Program, celebrating its 35th anniversary this spring, now involves 50 of the 120 state parks across the state, according to Carly Hitzfeld, Natural Resource Program Specialist with the bureau. The program involves more than 150 volunteers, ranging in age from high school students to some in their upper 80s. They check more than 1,400 nesting boxes across the state in individual park efforts that monitor from five to more than 175 nesting boxes.

Commitment in the monitoring program is not rare, Hitzfeld notes. More than 15 of the volunteers have been checking nesting boxes; cleaning and repairing them; jotting notes; and hiking trails for over 20 or more years.

Data gleaned from state park observations is shared with the Game Commission; North American Bluebird Society; the Bluebird Society of PA; and the Bureau of State Parks’ Resources Management and Planning Division.

For more details on the Cavity-Nesting Trail Program, contact Hitzfeld at 717-783-3344.

(Reprinted from the February 19 issue of DCNR’s online Resource newsletter.)

2/24/2014