In March, the Greater Princeton & Far Beyond Branch of AYLUS (GPA) continued its bluebird box monitoring project along with Mercer County Park and Plainsboro Preserve.
Eastern Bluebirds were once a common bird in New Jersey. With habitat loss and competition from introduction of aggressive, non-native birds, the populations of these beautiful birds declined. Through the efforts of caring people, esp volunteers who aid the nesting of bluebirds and other native bird species by monitoring boxes for nesting attempts by non-native birds, Bluebirds are nesting successfully at Mercer County Park.
Plainsboro Preserve (80 Scotts Corner Road, Cranbury, NJ 08512) and Mercer County Park Commission (4 parks) have their bluebird nest monitoring projects continuing in 2023.
The parks include Mercer Meadows Pole Farm (111-167 Cold Soil Rd, Lawrence Township, NJ 08648), Mercer Meadows LHT, Hunt House (197 Blackwell Rd, Pennington, NJ 08534), Rosedale Park (424 Federal City Rd, Pennington, NJ 08534), Fiddler’s Creek Preserve (Hopewell Township, NJ 08560), Mountain View Golf Course (850 Bear Tavern Rd, Ewing, NJ 08628), Mercer County Park – West Entrance, Mercer County Park – Marina (334 S Post Rd, West Windsor, NJ 08550), Mercer County Park – Dog Park, Mercer County Park – West Picnic, Mercer Oaks Golf Course East and West (725 Village Rd W, West Windsor, NJ 08550), and Mercer County Park Disc Golf Course (West Windsor, NJ 08550).
With the help of GPA volunteers, both organizations will get a better understanding of the bluebird species and populations here around central New Jersey. It will be a weekly monitoring where a group of volunteers will go out to different locations in the preserve and record data by checking the bird nests.
This will take place during the daytime hours, through (depending on the weather) April to August.
GPA volunteers (3/22, 2 hrs for all): Xintong Si, Gloria Wang, Tiffany Tian, Simon Tong, Emma Lin, Frank Sun, Alison Yang, Jeffrey Yang, Annie Xu, Zichen Ling, Emily Wang, Denzel Wang, Zachary Wen, Christopher Ren, Elves Huang, Larry Hu, Terence Jiang
