Local bird lovers help western bluebird population soar

Back when its current president, Mary Parsell, first joined the El Dorado Audubon Society in the 1970s, the western bluebird was rarely seen gracing the skies or trees around Long Beach. Now they’re a relatively common sight thanks to decades of work by citizen conservationists.

The most significant aid local bird lovers have given the western bluebird is shelter and protection by building and installing of bluebird boxes—small, light blue rectangular birdhouses, mounted high in trees, specifically made for the western bluebird.

A bird enters the small hole that marks the entrance of a bluebird box. (Photo courtesy of the Southern California Bluebird Club)

Bill Wallace of the Southern California Bird Club said bluebirds typically make their nests in holes made by woodpeckers in dead or dying trees. But since dead trees pose a safety hazard for humans if they fall, most dead trees are cut down, eliminating the western bluebird’s natural habitat.

The bluebird boxes provide a substitution for missing habitat, and were first brought to Los Angeles and Orange Counties around 25 years ago by Richard Purvis, one of the founding members of the Southern California Bluebird Club. Now they are built, installed and cared for by bird enthusiasts throughout the coastal regions of Southern California.

“[Purvis was] quite an avid birder in his younger days,” Wallace said. “He noticed that there were a few Western bluebirds out in Anaheim and so he started putting up some bluebird boxes and it sort of grew from there.”

Purvis is a lifelong bird enthusiast, who created his first bird box as a young child in Georgia.

“I’ll remember that forever,” 95-year-old Purvis told the Signal Tribune in regards to his first bird box.

After moving to Southern California as an adult and putting up his first bird boxes specifically to help the western bluebird, Purvis began to spread his knowledge with other local birders throughout LA and Orange Counties. This included a volunteer trip to Long Beach to teach the El Dorado Audubon Society how to create and tend to the boxes. The small wooden birdhouses are available from the Southern California Bluebird Club for $20, which includes a lifting basket people can use to safely lower the

Under Purvis’ influence, the El Dorado Audubon Society went on to install and tend bluebird boxes in Long Beach for over two decades.

The El Dorado Audubon Society’s focuses on the conservation of native birds and their natural habitats. Its activities and programs suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, and as a result, its Bluebird Nest Box Monitoring Program hasn’t been operating since 2020. But Parsell said that local birders are still tending to some of the boxes on their own.

Wallace said the Southern California Bird Club is aware of around 55 bluebird boxes located in Long Beach.

Three hatchings and another egg rest inside of a western bluebird nest. (Photo courtesy of the Southern California Bluebird Club))

Thanks to Purvis’ intervention into the fate of the western bluebird, and the decades of work by the El Dorado Audubon Society and other local conservationists, the population of this native bird has shot back up.

According to a paper published by the University of Victoria, western bluebirds are primarily responsible for propagating mistletoe plants in the wild. After eating mistletoe berries, the western bluebird goes on to spread the seeds through its droppings.

According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the longest living western bluebird known was 8 years and 8 months old.

The National Audubon Society asks local birders to participate in a yearly Christmas Bird Count, where participants go out into their local communities and log the number and species of birds they see.

Data from the Christmas counts shows the resurgence that occurred after Purvis brought his bluebird boxes to Southern California.

Although the local birding area is designated as “Long Beach – El Dorado” on the National Audubon Society’s map, it includes parts of surrounding cities, such as Signal Hill, Lakewood, Seal Beach and more.

In 1987, no western bluebirds were seen during the Christmas count in the Long Beach area, but in 2021 a total of 105 western bluebirds were counted by volunteers. According to the bird conservation organization Partners In Flight, the total western bluebird population is estimated to be at 7.1 million.

“I’m really pleased with the way they have increased since I started working with them,” Purvis said.

A western bluebird eats from the hand of a conservationist. (Photo courtesy of the Southern California Bluebird Club)

Residents can spy bluebird boxes high up in the trees of local parks such as Heartwell and El Dorado, safe from curious hands and prying eyes. But close enough to listen to their soft whistles if they decide to sing.

Parsell said that because of the prevalence of bluebird boxes in local parks, local residents can now increasingly spot western bluebirds in their neighborhoods.

Those interested in installing or monitoring a bluebird box can reach out to the Southern California Bluebird Club at socalbluebirdclub38@gmail.com. Monitoring duties include checking on boxes once a week from March to July, and sometimes performing maintenance such as getting rid of insect pests such as bees and ants.