I have not usually thought of bluebirds as birds to be found in large
flocks, but obviously they do flock up under the right circumstances.  My
father used to tell of flocks of 60 or more that, in certain years, would
linger near his family farm in eastern Nebraska when he was a boy back in
the early 1920's - long before European Starlings reached that area.  I have
never seen such a flock - but perhaps this will be the year.  At the
Pickering Creek Audubon Center where I help with the Bluebird trails our
current count of fledglings is 156.  There are 91 eggs or young still in the
boxes.  Our previous high fledging year was 2007 when the Pickering Creek
birds put 166 of the little darlings into the air.  

Les Roslund
Talbot County
Easton MD 21601


-----Original Message-----
From: Maryland Birds & Birding [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Don Simonson
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 9:22 PM
To: 
Subject: [MDOSPREY] 42 EASTERN BLUEBIRDS in one tree Mont Co.


On Saturday July 12 at our home in Darnestown, Montgomery County, I was
indoors about 7:45 pm when my wife Marcia called to me from the yard that I
better come out to the back yard, to see a whole lot of bluebirds. And added
that I "might want to bring the binos".   Juvenile bluebirds were perched
all over the crown of a large, mostly bare sycamore tree in the back yard,
with more arriving all the time. At first we counted 25, then 30, but more
kept coming.  At about 8:00 pm the number in sight at one time peaked at
42!!!! We could hear still more calling from the neighboring yard.

I have never seen so many Eastern Bluebirds at one time, let alone in one
tree.  This year we had four boxes occupied simultaneously on our 2 acre
yard. Each box produced two or more broods, but this flock must have
included other juveniles from elsewhere as well as our "own".

Kudos to Andy Rabin for putting up so many bluebird boxes in Seneca State
Park in the 1990's.  I think that is when the bluebird population really
took off in this part of Darnestown.

Good birding!
Don Simonson, Darnestown, Montgomery County MD