Managing the Bluebird Trail(s)

Jim Mand, Paul Noeldner, Jan Axelson, and Tom Jarvis, members of the Friends of Cherokee Marsh, have relocated and remapped nest boxes for the bluebird nest box trail in the North Unit of the Cherokee Marsh Conservation Park.

The 21 nest boxes, used by bluebirds, tree swallows, and house wrens, are now closer to the entrance road and trails, allowing for easier viewing and maintenance. There is also now a box by the upper parking lot near the restrooms. Prescribed burns will also be easier to manage with the nest boxes at the perimeters of prairies.

Jim Mand and Paul Noeldner pull up an old nest box to relocate it.

Jim and Paul repair a box as Jan Axelson looks on.

Jim and Paul place the box in its new location along the edge of the prairie.

Above left: Jim Mand and Paul Noeldner pull up an old next box to relocate it. Center. Jim and Paul repair a box as Jan Axelson looks on. Above right, Jim and Paul place the box in its new location.

The group is planning a new bluebird trail from the Burning Wood Way footpath into the park, leading to the upper parking lot. New boxes are built by Cherokee Park resident Stephen Lang.

A tree swallow perches on a nest box.

As nest boxes were being relocated along the entrance road, a tree swallow immediately landed on one box in its new location. Nesting season is getting underway, so this project is timely.

2025 Nest Box Report

Jim Mand monitors the bluebird trail in the North Unit, with Jan Axelson and Tom Jarvis as back-up monitors. Jim reports that, in 2025,

• eastern bluebirds built nests in 3 boxes, laid 11 eggs, hatched 4, and fledged 0 (tree swallows were possibly involved in the high mortality rate)

• tree swallows occupied 19 boxes, including boxes vacated by bluebirds, and fledged 96

• house wrens usually take over most tree swallow boxes after swallows have fledged and gone, but in 2025 wrens built nests in only 4 boxes, laid eggs in only 2, and fledged only 3 from one box

• a chickadee, for the first time ever, used 1 box and laid 4, but they never hatched

• mice used 11 boxes for winter nests.

Many bluebird trails in the Cherokee Marsh area

The South Unit of Cherokee Marsh Conservation Park also has a small bluebird trail, with 4 boxes monitored by Lynne Haynor. Lynne also monitors a 9-box trail at Meadow Ridge Park, adjacent to the Mendota Unit of Cherokee Marsh

Conservation Park. The TPC Wisconsin golf course adjacent to the North Unit has a trail as well, monitored by Eric Leonard, Steve Lang, and Mary Lang. The Langs also monitor a 41-box trail at Yahara Heights County Park and Cherokee Marsh Natural Resource Area, as well as 57 boxes at Token Creek County Park. Greg Roliardi monitors a bluebird trail at the VFW club lands along Highway CV, overlooking Cherokee Marsh. In all, there are at least 41 bluebird trails in the Madison area.

illustration courtesy of BRAW

Paul Noeldner, a board member of the Friends of Cherokee Marsh, is the Dane County Coordinator for the bluebird trails, in partnership with public lands managers for the City of Madison and Dane County and with the Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin (BRAW). Learn more at BRAW's website.