In their own words...
I have been extremely fortunate to be a member of this community for more than four decades, and the “memorable” events that have been part of my life during that time are numerous. To isolate a single one that qualifies as the ‘top memory’ was an enormous challenge, but welcomed because it allowed me to relive all the terrific experiences I have had at this wonderful institution.
It is probably obvious that one of my major loves is birds. I have been involved with several bird-related projects on campus (all funded by Abbot grants), including refurbishing the Greene-Smith Bird Collection, building the Bird Blind, and constructing nest boxes to place strategically around campus in an effort to increase the number of cavity nesting birds around Andover Hill. It is this third project that resulted in (perhaps) my most memorable Andover moment.
Back in the late ’80s I received an Abbot grant to design and build nesting boxes for specific species of cavity nesting birds and place them around campus in habitats that would most likely be frequented by those birds. One of the nesting boxes I designed was for the Eastern Bluebird, a bird that (as many senior folks will remember) was formerly abundant in the northeast and also served as the first sign of spring. Habitat destruction, pesticides, and the introduction of the House Sparrow and Starling from Europe reduced the population of Eastern Bluebirds during the mid 1900s to about 10 percent of their former numbers.
As of that time, a documented nesting of an Eastern Bluebird had not been reported in the town of Andover since the 1960s. Bluebirds prefer open spaces (fields, meadows, golf courses, etc.); hence, in the spring of 1994, I attached several Bluebird boxes to the large elms on the main vista (an act that “ruffled a few feathers’ I might add).
Miraculously, within three weeks I not only saw Eastern Bluebirds, but also witnessed them checking out the nesting boxes. A week later, a male and female were definitely interested in one box and were soon seen bringing pine needles and other nesting material into the box. Periodically, when both adults were off tending to other duties, I would open the box to observe any progress. Miraculously, on one such trip there was not only a completed nest, but a beautiful sky-blue egg within it. Two days later there was another egg…a day later, a third…then a fourth…and a fifth. I followed the progress for the next two weeks as the mom incubated the eggs and the dad brought food to her.
Then, on one “historic” day in May, the eggs hatched—all five of them! The parents spent nearly every waking hour hunting for insects and worms and raising their brood. I was not fortunate enough to observe the young leave the box, but I must assume all five successfully fledged.
The successful nesting was so exciting that even the local newspapers called to run stories on the birds. (I permitted them to see the youngsters in the box, but made them promise not to reveal the location of the box in their article.) Bluebirds often nest a second time in the Northeast; ours did not. However, they were back again in that very same box the following spring, and the spring after that.
The next year, a pair (I’m assuming a different pair) nested in a box out by the track, and the year after that a pair selected a box behind Isham. During those five years we only had a single pair each year, but all resulted in successful nestings.
This was truly amazing—and very heartening for the bird lovers on campus (of which there are many, I might add). I/we continue to provide specially designed nesting boxes on campus for the Eastern Bluebird, but unfortunately we have not had another pair take up residence since the summer of 1993.
We’ll keep trying, and thankfully we have members of the biology department who are willing to maintain and monitor the 75 houses that are situated around campus after my retirement.