Bluebirds of Jonesboro have rebounded!

2024 was a busy season to say the least because the population not only rebounded (see numbers below) and was back to 2017-2020 levels but we also participated in a big collaborative project that involved longer protocols. Thankfully, I had three assistants. The idea is to figure out how temperature affects the development of the chicks' immune system. For that, we manipulated the temperature of the nests during incubation with heat, ice, or control packs. We recorded the temperature of the nests with dime-sized temperature recorders called iButtons. And then, in addition to banding the chicks as usual, we took all kinds of measurements and samples: body temperature, mass, length of wing, length of feather sheath, length of beak, length of tarsus, little blood sample, poop sample, and 2 feathers. The Knutie lab at University of Connecticut is analyzing all these data.

We had new interesting things happen; bluebirds never cease to surprise us. For example,

A male and his mother decided to mate together again, but they had good success, with 14 kids across three clutches. Besides one weird growth on the cheek of one chick, everybody looked healthy.
We again witnessed some overachievers attempting FOUR broods. One pair almost succeeded but their last brood died during a heat wave. The other pair, Janet (a 2021 survivor) and her mate, managed to raise everyone, totaling 16 kids! Janet was in fourth nesting year. Her first mate in 2021 was her neighbor this year and with three broods, he still managed 12 chicks.
One pair that lost chicks to a cat last year, tried again this year. Unfortunately, dad died from one of the cat's attack. Mom raised their 6 kids by herself and she almost succeeded but ended up snatched herself. Please, please, please keep your cats indoors!
We recaptured a female that we thought had died from a snake attack when she was 15 or 16 days old and still in the nest. She had an old and healed injury on the top of her head, maybe from that snake attack. Bluebirds can be so resilient!
Multiple sets of siblings stayed in the area and found a box to nest in not too far from where they were born.