New hope for Western Bluebirds? By

Looking into my mirror I see three tiny, pink creatures, hardly moving, yet very much alive. Two other siblings are still hiding in light-blue oval packages, waiting for the right moment to join the outside world. The parents anxiously fly from perch to perch scolding my intrusion with a familiar "chweer, chweer." Straining my neck and back to get the perfect look inside this little world, I count again three young nestlings and two eggs. Keeping my time there to a minimum, I climb back down my rickety wooden ladder smiling at the proud new parents. This is just one of the many Western Bluebird nests my colleagues and I have closely monitored over the past few years. Western Bluebirds were histori-cally birds of open areas, forest clearings, savannahs, or forest edges. However, recent dangerous declines have been noted for the Western Bluebird in many parts of its range. These declines have been attributed to the removal of large degenerating trees in which nests were most often found and to increased competition for nest sites with House Sparrows, European Starlings, and swallows. In addition, the open forests in which Western Bluebirds were historically most abundant have become dense forest stands domi-nated by young trees that contain few nest cavities and low numbers of insects. Due to suppression of natural fires, current tree densities in south-western ponderosa pine forests may be up to 8.5 times greater than a century ago. These conditions lead to Effect of forest restoration being studied poor nutrient cycling, increased potential for large, high-intensity, stand-replacing fires, and a reduced ability of pine forests to support wildlife species supposed to have been present historically. For these reasons, efforts to restore southwest-ern forests are gaining momentum