By Dennis Lindeke

This was year three for our bluebird trail along the north Gateway Trail. And it has been a wonderful three years for our colorful feathered friends. In 2014 we installed 16 bluebird houses along the Gateway Trail between Wildwood Elementary, in Grant, and Pine Point Park. Over this time an amazing total of 145 young bluebirds have fledged from this series of nice little houses.

This was started thanks to Carolyn Baird, a volunteer with the Audubon Society Bluebird Recovery Program, with help from members of the Gateway–Brown’s Creek Trail Association and the Holy Rollers Bike Club at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church, in Mahtomedi. The bike club inspects and maintains each house every Saturday all summer long. Most bluebird couples nest twice each year. An ambitious couple may even nest three times in one summer. Once the little blue eggs are laid it takes about three weeks for them to hatch. Then in a little over two weeks the babies are ready to hop out and fly away. We are looking forward to their return next April.

Main photo courtesy of Henry T. McLin|Flickr. Birdhouse by Dennis Lindeke.