Bluebird conservationists celebrate 40 years of fledging
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In celebration of 40 years of helping the bluebird population grow, a bench and bluebird box were set in Ronan’s Bockman Park in honor of Art Aylesworth, “The Bluebird Man.”
Nearly 80,000 iconic bluebird boxes now entice egg layers across Montana, according to Vivian Aylesworth of Ronan. With a clutch size of four to five eggs and two nesting cycles per breeding season, that adds up to a lot of new mountain bluebirds.
“It’s been a real success story,” Vivian said.
The story began when her late husband, Art, noticed that the bluebird population had diminished since his childhood.
So with a friend, Art built five nesting boxes and fledged five nestlings. The experience motivated them to secure donated scrap lumber and recruit volunteers to build and distribute several thousand boxes to people who would monitor them.
The desire to increase the bird population grew as word spread throughout the valley and state.
In 1981 Aylesworth met five other bluebirders, who joined forces under the name Mountain Bluebird Trails, a group already formed in Canada.
To help celebrate Montana’s Centennial in 1989, the group built and placed the 2,800 bluebird boxes along Highway 200, about four homes per mile.
Through the years volunteers have brought bluebird awareness to the community through events and into schools to teach children and adults how to build boxes, care for the nesting sites, and understand bluebird nesting behavior.
Art died of cancer in April of 1999, but his love of bluebirds and his dream of spreading the bluebird conservation movement throughout Montana and beyond is still carried on by MBT members.
Each year, MBT holds an annual meeting in Montana. This year the conference is taking place in Ronan, Sept. 26-28. The group will tour the park to see the bench and bluebird box, and also visit the bluebird woodshop in downtown Ronan.
For more information about Mountain Bluebird Trails, visit the website at: www.mountainbluebirdtrails.com.
