On a bright sunny Thursday afternoon in late February of this year I met my neighbor Bruce Dralle at the Lookout Mountain town park off North Bragg.  We had three bluebird nestboxes to place in this beautiful natural area.  What I did not anticipate was that we were being observed by many bluebirds.  It was time to get these houses out and ready for habitation.

Our team of monitors, including Bruce, John Simmons and myself, will visit eight houses on Lookout Mountain weekly during nesting season - March through August.  Our trail is one of 24 throughout Hamilton and surrounding counties and is supported by the Chattanooga Bluebird Society. Our eight birdhouses are on public access property near the pickleball courts at the Commons and the park off North Bragg and Sunset.
While we set out the new nestboxes, Bruce pointed out numerous pairs of bluebirds around us. I believe that he was alerted to them by their sounds and overhead flights. I, on the other hand, observed nothing until he pointed them out.

I have had bluebird houses in my yard for many years but did not appreciate that bluebirds have up to three clutches of chicks throughout the season. As we monitor the nestboxes over the coming months, our task will be to determine if we have active nests and the type of bird in our houses. We might see tree swallows, house wrens, chickadees, or house sparrows.  House sparrows are non-native birds that can kill adult bluebirds, so we try to discourage them by removing all nesting material as soon as their nest-building in our boxes begins. Even if we do not see the birds in the nestboxes, we may determine by the nest material or the eggs what type of bird is the occupant. If we have birds other than bluebirds, we leave the nest alone since federal law provides them protections. It should be noted that bluebirds are very tolerant of humans, and our presence will not cause them to abandon the houses.

If we find a bluebird nest in a box, we record the date and number of eggs (one a day), which may be from four to six eggs. The incubation period is from 12 to 14 days. After hatching, the birds will remain in the next 17 to 21 days until the young are fully feathered. Our task is to determine if all the eggs hatch and they are healthy.

Unfortunately, there are predators that target either the eggs or young chicks, so our nestboxes are designed to discourage access by visitors that target them. Each nestbox is mounted on a 5-foot metal pole: electrical conduit and a metal six-inch stovepipe with a lid to keep climbing creatures from the nest.
Our weekly monitoring visits to the nest boxes are done on calm, mild, and dry days. We will take a quick peek inside using a door on the side of the house. Our monitoring efforts are invaluable to efforts to increase bluebirds in our area as well as to determine if the nestbox should be relocated.

After a successful fledging of the young birds, we remove the old nest from the box. Renesting in a box will be encouraged by removing the old nest. Females will build a new nest for their next brood.

The Chattanooga Bluebird Society is a chapter of the Tennessee Bluebird Society and an all-volunteer 501©3 non-profit organization. Founded in 2021, the group builds bluebird houses to place in parks, schools and sells to the public. Teams monitor activity of the houses and report the data to the Tennessee Bluebird Society as well as the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology.
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by John Pine

Did you know the lawns across the United States amount to an astonishing 40 million acres? That’s roughly the size of Colorado! Historically, green lawns are a status symbol deeply rooted in our minds, but this monoculture is laced with devastating ecological consequences. According to the National Wildlife Federation, these lawns “consume around 9 billion gallons of water daily, introduce a myriad of toxins into our ecosystems, and offer scant refuge for the local wildlife that once thrived in these spaces.”

Where did lawns come from? They first emerged in 17th century England at the homes of wealthy landowners. Sheep grazed on many lawns to keep it short and visually pleasing, but landowners increasingly depended on human labor to tend these home lawns. Only the well-to-do could afford to hire the staff needed to scythe and weed the grass, thus a green lawn, also called a park, was a mark of wealth and status.

Lawn bowling, which was once popular in both England and Scotland, received a blow in England when various kings prohibited commoners from playing it. Scottish immigrants brought lawn bowling and golf to North America, both requiring the lawns on which they were played.

In the mid 19th century, as industrialization occurred and cities grew, city beautification campaigns became common and the park was born. This term was originally used to describe the lawn and trees around wealthy English homes, but in America, parks took on the characteristics of British estates with landscaped lawns, trees, shrubbery and water features like fountains and ponds.

Eventually lawns migrated from parks into residential yards. A key figure in this movement was Frederick Law Olmsted, known as the American father of landscape architecture, who planned New York City’s Central Park in the 1850s. Olmsted utilized meadows in public parks and designed residential neighborhoods in which each home sported a lawn.

The first lawnmower arrived in 1830, and by the 1890s they were a fixture on the landscape allowing most everyone to have a lawn - no servants, goats or sheep required.

Flash forward to today and we realize that lawns are a barren monoculture that provide nothing for ecosystems and contribute more carbon emissions than they absorb. It’s time to rewild your yard!

One5c (one5c.com) has developed a step-by-step guide to rewilding your turf. Between now and May, Lawns Gone Wild will teach you how to murder your grass and grow natural habitats in your yard.

Why do we need to rewild our yards? In short, to provide vital lifelines for native wildlife. Why is this important? Before humans altered landscapes, native plants evolved to be in sync with the local environment, which provides food and shelter to native wildlife and in turn provides ecosystem services to us, the biggest of which is pollination. Without pollination, humans cease to exist. A native bee covered in pollen equals life! 

One5c states, “90% of insects can only reproduce when they feed on plants that they share an evolutionary history with. More native plants also attract more insects, meaning dinner is served for even more animals and birds, sending positive ripples through the food chain. Many of these species also double as pollinators, which means that rewilding a little patch on your turf can go a long way.”

A paper published in Conservation Biology, authored by three researchers including Doug Tallamy, states, “given that 96% of all terrestrial birds in North America rear their young in part or entirely on insects (Dickinson 1999), large-scale reductions in available insect biomass may have serious conservation implications that could be mitigated with changes in landscape practices.” 

Chickadee nestlings may consume 6,000-9,000 caterpillars before they fledge, all foraged within a 150-foot radius of the nest. A lawn will do nothing to support these youngsters, but native plants will!

Changing up a single-crop yard of grass with a mix of native plants also boosts soil resilience. One5c explains, “different plant species have varied root lengths, and longer ones slow water movement underground and lock in soil moisture much better than turf grass would. That extra water makes the soil more resistant to fires and droughts, both of which are becoming more common. Plus, a reduced need for irrigation means you can ditch those sprinklers to cut back on unnecessary water use. Swapping a manicured lawn for wilder plants also reduces the heat island effect. Traditional lawns can be up to 25.2 degrees F hotter than green spaces with more complex vegetation.”

Hopefully, you’ve bought in and are ready to make the change to a native landscape! There are some things you need to do to foster success. You can’t just stop mowing and throw some seeds out. The process is not hard, but you just need to follow it.

• Step 1 - Hoard cardboard for sheet mulching. 
• Step 2 - Pick out a spot (start small) and place cardboard on the ground to suppress grass and weeds from germinating.
• Step 3 - Source and buy native seeds or plants (Reflection Riding, of course! And don’t forget local library seed exchanges).
• Step 4 - Remove the cardboard and plant your seeds and plants.
• Step 5 - Maintain your new native habitat.

Next season, rewild another area of the yard!

For complete info and details, I encourage you to check out One5c.com and search how to rewild your yard.
Remember, if you plant seeds, it may take several seasons for pollinators and other wildlife to show up, whereas plugs or plants give you a larger head start in calling in the native fauna.

Do your part to restore the natural landscape in your own yard. You will create a resilient, self-sustaining ecosystem and hopefully, your neighbors will join in! This world needs more wild spaces and it’s our duty to make it happen.
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by Tish Gailmard