Welcome To Our North America Bluebird Trail

The Pitman Golf Course has enjoyed an organzied Bluebird Trail throughout the golf course for several years now.  Since 2006 the trail has been supported by a team of volunteers who take great pride in the proper care and record keeping of all the nesting boxes, which you can find spread out over half the golf course.  The team is comprised of local county residents who already participate in a bird watching group and who enjoy noticing the wildlife that can be found on the golf course.

What To Expect:

Our overall goal of this program is to increase the number of Bluebirds at the golf course.  Our volunteers will accomplish this by a variety of tasks that include the monitoring each box to examine the nesting material and potential eggs. We will follow each box as it becomes housed by a particular species and we will take you through the nesting period, the fledging period and right through the season as to how each box supports "life".

 You can also expect some photographs of the actual boxes, the nested eggs and what develops from there.  It should be a very exciting and well documented time for our Bluebird trail....stay tuned over the next several months! 

If you have any specific questions about our trail at the Pitman Golf Course, or have the desire to start your own box at home, contact Orist Wells owells@co.gloucester.nj.us here at the golf course and he will provide you with additional information.

2006 Bluebird Trail Resurgence:

3/14/06 - All boxes have been cleaned out over the past couple of weeks and are ready for the start of nesting.  Already this week we have discovered activity in several boxes throughout the trail.  A few of the boxes have been relocated in an attempt to make them more desirable for the bluebirds.

4/18/06 - Our volunteer group is reporting that we currently have 5 active Bluebird nests throughout our trail with a total of 23 eggs being monitored.

5/03/06 - Our Bluebird trail is active according to our monitoring group!  Mr. Bob Baruzzi, Bluebird Trail Volunteer, has shared the following update with me;  There is good news and bad news to report today.  The bad news is the bluebird eggs in one nest were all pierced and pushed out from the box.  Also, a male bluebird was found dead inside a nest box....both cases appear to be the work of House Sparrows trying to move in. 

The good news to report is that we now have six active nest boxes.  Three nests have a total of eleven eggs, one nest has 5 nine day old chicks, another with 5 four day old chicks and one with 5 three day old chicks.  All appear to be doing well.  The nine day old chicks were inspected for blow fly larva and appear to have no signs.

August Update - The nesting season is officially over for our trail at the Pitman Golf Course.  This year has been a tremendous success by way of establishing the trail box positions, repair and replacement of damaged or old boxes, numbers fledged, etc.

September Update - I would like to take this time to personally thank our team of volunteers who maintained the trail this year.  This was a big step in "re-establishing" our the trail and attracting more Bluebirds to our facility.  Our volunteers were successful in seeing around 39 fledges.  The tough part in getting our numbers up will be the constant battle with more dominant birds trying to nest in the boxes.  We look foward to next season!

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE FOLLOWING VOLUNTEERS FOR MAKING LAST YEAR'S BLUEBIRD TRAIL A SUCCESS; 
Bob and Pat Baruzzi
Dale and Susan Dietz
Dwight and Doris Weir
Marie Hageman
Joan Wagner
Judy Cassario.