Carole Hohl, a Volunteer Preserve Steward and Nest Box Monitor at Upper Mill Brook Conservation Area in Wayland, photographed this nest box that contains a nest and eggs of an eastern bluebird - our first reported eggs of the season. SVT volunteers help to monitor boxes at our reservations to ensure that native species, such as bluebirds or tree swallows, are able to use them. Although pesticides and competition negatively impacted bluebirds in the early and mid-20th century, they have recovered well in recent years and are stable or increasing both as breeding and wintering birds. Much of this recovery is thanks to bluebird boxes that provide nesting locations for the cavity nesters. Monitoring nest boxes alerts us to problems birds may be having with predators and competitors. House sparrows (sometimes called English sparrows) and European starlings are non-native species introduced from Europe. Their aggressive seizure of cavity nest sites is a primary reason for declines in eastern bluebird populations.

Robin Right photographed American goldfinches, a northern cardinal, a hairy woodpecker, an eastern bluebird, a dark-eyed junco, and a tufted titmouse at her feeders in Harvard.

Sue Feldberg photographed this eastern bluebird during a snow storm in Sudbury.

Joan Chasan photographed this eastern bluebird in Framingham.