Pat Ready, a birder I know, monitors the bluebird trail at Lake Kegonsa State Park near Madison. He recently shared a rather sad and shocking story on the Wisconsin Birding Network. Post holiday weekend he discovered that 4 house boxes with active nests were vandalized (3 were completely shattered) and two others were missing. One contained four Eastern Bluebird eggs and the others belonged to Tree Swallows - all their eggs were destroyed. A park ranger had some idea who was responsible - a 12 year old was apprehended and eventually confessed to the crime. Apparently he was showing off some karate moves to impress his friends and also had vandalized light fixtures and a sign. Naturally, his parents were shocked to learn that their son would do such a destructive thing. With remarkable charity over the situation, Pat made a point to say one of the reasons he helps with the trail is to give kids (and adults) the opportunity to see bluebirds for the first time and never thought something like this would happen. He added that kids from scout organizations helped build some the bird houses and park benches at Kegonsa, so "not all kids are bad." The youth involved with destroying the boxes was ticketed and will have to appear in juvenile court.
Eastern Bluebird image © 2007 Mike McDowell