Cookeville Bluebird Club Making Impact In Group’s First Year

Don’t be surprised to see more bluebirds around Cookeville next spring.

The Cookeville Bluebird Club is making an impact on the bird’s population in just one year of existence.

Co-Founder Lynne Maddux said manmade nesting boxes have gone up at Dogwood and Cane Creek Parks, The Golden Eagle Golf Course and Averitt Express. Maddux said a project that started with nesting boxes at home has found success spreading around the community.

“Every time you go you see their development change rapidly,” Maddux said. “Then it’s exciting to see them leave their nest and know there’s that many more baby blue birds out there. So that’s what’s really exciting.”

Maddux said the club is looking for more members because having people to monitor nests is key to healthy bluebirds and keeping away pests. She said the boxes have become necessary because the natural home a bluebird needs have become hard to find.

“Bluebirds need our help because they are cavity nesters,” Maddux said. “That means they need some type of cavity to build their nest in. They used to be in holes in trees and a lot of the trees over the years are diminished.”

She said the season for nesting is between late March and August. Maddux said a goal the club looks to achieve in the future is incorporating nests around Putnam County Schools.

“The problem with the schools is just that they’re usually not there during the summer when you would need to be monitoring them,” Maddux said. “We just have to work out something there if we had people from the schools that might enjoy it or parents or some of the children and their parents that would enjoy doing it once a week through the summer.”