Usually he's right. This is the only time I've ever proved him wrong. Stuff said she's seen a definite increase in the number of bluebirds on her trail over the years. Look at us. We just walked about 100 yards down this lane to the first box and we already saw a nesting pair.
Stuff keeps careful records in a notebook.
The data starts with an empty nest in each box in the early spring, then she records the number of eggs, then the hatchlings and finally the fledglings that leave the nest. An average clutch is four to five eggs, she said. They hatch in about 14 days. It takes 18 to 21 days for the birds to be old enough to leave the nest. At the end of the hatching season Stuff compiles her notes and sends the results to the National Blue Bird Society in Darlington, Wisc., which keeps tabs on the birds' population trends.