Eastern Bluebird Trails
Photo Bertrand Hamel
The Eastern Bluebird is a cavity-nesting bird. Its population was at its lowest in the 1970’s due to habitat destruction and pesticides. Several bird clubs began developing “bluebird trails” throughout North America. The idea is to install several nesting boxes in a favourable habitat. Since the bird’s preferred feeding tactic is to locate its prey on the ground from a perch and grab it after a short dive, it likes open areas.
COBM has been maintaining bluebird trails for decades. Currently, there are three: Ferme Norli (Bromont), Vergers Tougas (Dunham) and the Cowansville Golf Club.
Volunteers from COBM visit the nesting boxes from May to September and keep a record of nesting success. The bluebirds are recovering well.
COBM installed two feeding stations in Cowansville several years ago: at Parc naturel Jacques-Bonnette and at Centre de la nature. The latter has been replaced and relocated in 2021. It was inaugurated on February 16, 2022.
Volunteers take care of supplying them all winter long. The suet is graciously provided by
Feeding Stations
Photo Hélène Bergeron
Purple Martins
Our latest initiative targets the Purple Martin, which is in decline like all swallows. These swallows nest in colonies in dwelling-nesting boxes.
The Club des ornithologues de Brome-Missisquoi installed one in the fall of 2019 in Keith-Sornberger Park in Bedford. It was vandalized but was relocated in the spring of 2021 inside the settling ponds area where an information panel has been set up.
The Chimney Swift is a small bird nesting in chimneys. When it arrives in the spring, it gathers in groups, sometimes reaching 150 individuals, to spend the night in a chimney that serves as a dormitory. When couples are ready to nest, they disperse to smaller chimneys.
The Club des ornithologues de Brome-Missisquoi collaborates with the Canadian Wildlife Service to count the Chimney Swifts entering the Règle de Bedford’s dormitory chimney; the chimney at École Saint-Léon is no longer used by swifts since it has been modified.
Chimney Swifts
Photo Corridor appalachien