A self-guided nest box tour!
Nescopeck State Park has 24 bluebird boxes throughout the park. They are monitored during nesting season, from April to August, by DCNR Conservation Volunteer “Bluebird John” Jakoby.
Before the season begins, John ensures that the boxes are clean and ready for the birds. Although the boxes are intended to increase nesting habitat for Eastern bluebirds, they may also be used by tree swallows, house wrens and black-capped chickadees who also nest in tree cavities. Sometimes, mice or wasps may move in.
Eastern bluebirds begin nesting in mid-April while tree swallows begin several weeks later. John monitors the boxes weekly. This year, John faced some challenging setbacks as several nestlings were lost and eggs mysteriously disappeared. However, one interesting success (?) was the fledging of the first brown-headed cowbird from our nest boxes. It was raised with a tree swallow in Box 20, down near the silo. In 2024, he encountered a lot of drama: a bluebird egg in a tree swallow nest. a chickadee (our first record in a box) with 8 eggs, swallows nesting back-to-back boxes in 3 locations. Often bluebirds and tree swallows can get along next to each other, but they usually do not like to nest back-to-back with their same species. Visit the boxes shown on the map to see more details from the 2025 season!
John and our staff hope you enjoy the tour!
The final coordinates are:
N 41° 05.4AB
W 75° 52.7CD
To find the cache visit each nest box: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Along the way, count how many boxes were used by Eastern bluebirds. Multiply the number of boxes bluebirds used by 30 and subtract 2 to find AB. To find CD, multiply the number of boxes bluebirds used by 44 and add 3 to get CD.
BYOP