naturetrustbc

NTBC nesting boxes had a 92% success rate of supporting fledglings this season! ✨🪺

This nesting season, the Columbia Wetlands Viewpoint Trail – a registered bluebird trail with the BC Bluebird Society - became a haven for local bird populations thanks to the dedication of volunteers and a simple yet powerful tool: nesting boxes.

These boxes provided critical nesting spaces for Tree Swallows and Mountain Bluebirds, two species that rely on cavities for raising their young. The project, led by the Rocky Mountain Naturalists in partnership with the NTBC, is enabling the Hoodoos-Westside Conservation Area to function as a supportive nursery.

How It All Came Together:

🔨Children at a summer camp in the Columbia Valley built the nesting boxes, hosted by the Lake Windermere Rod and Gun Club and the British Columbia Wildlife Federation, before donating them to NTBC.

🥾Volunteers from the Rocky Mountain Naturalists and NTBC’s field crew installed the boxes in fall 2023, ensuring they were ready for spring.

🪺The volunteers cleaned the boxes in spring to reduce disease risk and monitored them weekly to record species, clutch sizes, hatch dates, and fledgling success.

Through their dedicated monitoring, the team discovered that every box along the trail was occupied this season, hosting both Mountain Bluebirds and Tree Swallows. Most notably, the boxes had a 92% success rate for supporting fledged young, a testament to the care, design, and placement of these boxes!

Three boxes even hosted second broods after the first fledglings left!

Projects like this restore balance in ecosystems where natural nesting sites are scarce. For species like the Mountain Bluebird, which faces competition for cavities, these boxes are a lifeline.

A huge thank you to the volunteers and conservationists who made this possible! 👏✨

Photos 2 and 5 graciously provided by Back to Nature Photography (@backtonaturephotography )

naturetrustbc

🌱 Plants of the nursery 🌱

The Hulitun Spulhxun/Tumuhw Nursery is a unique and meaningful place that reflects both the resilience of an estuary recovering from generations of settler-altered disturbance and the Cowichan Tribes community’s reconnection with native plants their ancestors historically cultivated and harvested.

The nursery grows plants with many important traditional uses, including medicines, ceremonial purposes, and native food sources.

Here is a small glimpse of the plants being nurtured for in the nursery by NTBC’s Alyssa Zandvliet, Cowichan Tribes, Ducks Unlimited, and the UBC Indigenous Ecology Lab.

@ducksunlimitedcanada @youngagrarians @ntbc_westcoast

naturetrustbc

Our thoughts are with the communities, conservation partners, and colleagues affected by the wildfires in BC’s Interior this week, and for the first responders and support workers who are working tirelessly to keep our province safe.

Right now, with thousands of people across BC being displaced by the fires, we want to share resources to support those communities in need.

🌱 @unitedway_bc Wildfire Recovery Fund - https://uwbc.ca/campaign/wildfires/

🌱@redcrosscanada 2026 British Columbia Wildfires - https://give.redcross.ca/page/26BCF

Although Indigenous communities make up a small portion of Canada’s population, they are disproportionately affected by wildfires, with nearly half of evacuations involving Indigenous communities.

🌱To support Okanagan Indian Band members affected by the fires, please donate
through the En’owkin Centre by contacting Anna Tonasket at 250-493-7181 ext. 217 or justicemanager@enowkincentre.ca. Learn more at https://www.enowkincentre.ca/

Stay safe and informed this wildfire season.

📸 Graham Osborne