Most of us get ants in our pants waiting for that first bluebird egg of the season. Sometimes it seems like it is a long time coming. Sometimes we worry that the birds are laying too soon because the weather is still cold. But usually the birds know best, and wait until temperatures and food supplies are right.
If you want to see when the first egg in your area is typically laid, follow these instructions from Tina Mitchell of Coaldale, CO. You can get the information with just a few clicks of your mouse. Within big states or in different microclimates, dates may vary considerably. Dates for the first egg in the same location can also vary from year to year.
Then, from the drop-down menu, choose your species (e.g., Eastern Bluebird) during "all seasons" in {select your state}.
Uncheck any default selections, and click on "Total # of eggs & average clutch size"
Hit "Export" and then "Open" (or Save")
NestWatch will then export your data to an Excel file (it will go into a temporary folder). Open the second tab to see your data.
You can get "earliest 1st egg date," average 1st egg date," and "latest 1st egg date" for each NestWatch trail or group of nests since 1997.
You can chose other options and narrow the report in lots of different ways--e.g., only a few years, just one state, U.S. only, etc.
You can also sort on the various columns in the Excel Spreadsheet to organize it by state or whatever. Unfortunately because the of the way the dates are set up (MM/DD/YY) they don't sort numerically.
Statistical disclaimers: Of course not even everyone who monitors a nestbox enters data into NestWatch's database, so the sample is biased in unknown (and mostly unknowable) ways.
If you haven't entered your data into NestWatch in the past, give it a try! It's free, it's interesting, and most importantly, the data can help citizen and professional scientists figure out important stuff like the impact of climate change or land-use changes on wild birds.
The table below shows the earliest reported date from 1997 (when data started being collected) through part of 2009. ND means no data reported for any bluebird species (Eastern/Mountain/Western)
First reported egg in NestWatch 1997-2009
United States
Canada
AL
3/1
2006
HI
ND
NJ
SC
AB
AK
ND
ID
4/15-WEBL
4/2-MOBL
2004
2000
NM
SD
BC
AZ
5/1
2005
IL
NY
TN
MB
AR
3/12
2001
IN
NC
TX
NB
CA
3/1-WEBL
6/1-MOBL
2001
1997
IA
ND
UT
NL
CO
4/14-EABL
3/18-MOBL
4/1-WEBL
2007
2006
2007
KS
OH
VT
NT
CT
4/1
2002
LA
OK
VA
NS
DE
4/1
2006
ME
OR
WA
NU
FL
1/21
2006
NV
PA
WV
ON
GA
3/1*
2009
NH
RI
WI
PE
WY
QC
SK
YT
*One data point for GA indicated the first egg was laid 1/12/2006, but this appears to be an data entry error since all other dates are in March.
Every nest that is built and has eggs laid in it is a gift. Sometimes nature is cruel, but this has to be accepted.
- 10 year monitoring veteran responding to a Bluebird Nut Survey, 2005
