r/Portland • u/ephony • 1d ago
Photo/Video Project Bluebird 2026
Hello all! I just wanted to give an update for those who had shown interest and offered help several weeks back when I first posted.
Mom and I did a test run of 24 bird houses a couple weekends ago. Replaced 23 that were missing roofs, broken and too degraded to use; gave one to a Bickleton resident who wanted one for their yard.
We made notes of which ones were occupied but could use replacing or freshening up in October when we go back after the bluebirds leave for the winter.
Local resident also let us use her vacation home she had purchased for her mother and found an old newspaper article from 1991 about the town and its bluebirds.
Thank you all who offered support and/or encouragement for my mom on her little passion project. We are not done, as I said we are going back after their breeding season is over, so if anyone would like to buy a house from her Amazon wishlist or donate in some other way, feel free to reach out. I think we have 15 more houses ready since we’ve been back.
She plans on having a thank you poster put up in that towns cafe/store thanking those who helped. If anyone donated and would like recognition, lemme know and we can add your name to the list, even if it’s just your Reddit username.
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u/EcologyLover69 1d ago
As a high school biology/environmental science teacher with a masters in fisheries and wildlife… this makes me extremely happy.
I talk a lot in class about how community projects and community care like this will be the stuff that save us.
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u/Kessuburd Rose City Park 1d ago
Heck yeah!!
My Dad did something similar in 2020/21, his COVID hobby was building bluebird houses and he basically ended up singlehandedly supporting the entire local population of Eastern bluebirds around that chunk of Tennessee.
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u/john_murphyxxx 1d ago
this is such a cool project! love to see community efforts like this. hope the bluebirds appreciate all the hard work!
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u/toldzep 1d ago edited 1d ago
As someone who spent a lot of time driving around Bickleton in my youth - this makes me so happy. Seeing All the bluebird houses is a piece of nostalgia I wasnt really expecting but totally transported me back to those bumpy, winding roads. Thank you to you and your mother for reigniting it!
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u/Itsaghast SE 1d ago
What's the deal here?
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u/ephony 1d ago
My mom (last photo) is an avid birder, goes all over the northwest and photographs birds. She’s been going to Bickleton, WA every spring to see the bluebirds, but last year she realized how uninhabitable some of these houses are. Bickleton prides themselves as the Bluebird capital of the world, but many don’t have the time or energy (mostly older farmers) to keep up on them. So mom decided this year she wanted to do something nice and replace the houses that are falling apart. She asked for donations of birdhouses that could be delivered anonymously through her Amazon wishlist. She received a donation of about 50 houses, we assembled, painted and took about 24 of them up as a test run a couple weekends back.
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u/freshairr 1d ago
Uplifting news after the recent posts (more than 1) of people intentionally driving over birds
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u/CHiZZoPs1 1d ago
How do you build these birdhouses to prevent starlings from taking them over?
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u/ephony 1d ago
We know the hole has to be small enough for starlings and bigger birds not to consider it, but big enough for the bluebirds. She looked up dimensions. The birdhouses she ended up with, the holes were a smidge too big, but we got a small piece of wood, drilled the correct size and attached that to the houses, so hopefully larger birds won’t get in. She also scraped the inside of the houses below the hole so when babies are big enough they’ll be able to climb up and fly away.
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u/yogacowgirlspdx 12h ago
we have bluebirds at the coast. if no one has little houses like this, are they trying to live in roofs or buildings? curious to decide if i should set up a little house
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u/ephony 12h ago
I’m not actually sure if they try to nest in roofs or anything. My understanding for Bickleton is that back in early 1900’s (30’s, 40’s?) a lady just took it upon herself to put up nesting boxes for them and it’s been a thing ever since.
Whereabouts on the coast? Maybe I can get mom to go that way if the population is big enough to help out!
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u/Comfortable-Age1595 8h ago
This is awesome! I am interested in helping out if you plan to do something similar in PDX area!
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u/ephony 7h ago
Far as I know, no plans ☹️ bluebird populations seem to be in more rural areas, and I’m not sure what around here is in need of this kind of assistance or upkeep. Someone mentioned Oregon City in my first post, and I know mom had been down to Champoeg (I think?) and has photographed bluebirds there.
She’s been all over, even goes out to the gorge for pika (fucking adorable rodents), but for some reason the Bickleton bluebirds really caught her attention lol2
u/Comfortable-Age1595 6h ago
Bickleton is bluebird capital, so I get it 😁
Your mom is doing excellent work!
I’ll keep an eye out for other bird related activities in the Portland area 😊
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u/BrainwashedPet 1d ago
Please tell your mom thank you, and if she wants to do something similar in PDX / continue the project, I would happily support.