Sarah Flanagan at the Zephaniah Trail.
Sarah and Liam have been Loudoun Wildlife members since 2013 and bluebird monitors on the Zephaniah Winery bluebird nestbox trail since 2019. They continue to monitor that trail plus assisting other trails through their involvement on the Bluebird Leadership Team.
Liam Flanagan at the Zephaniah trail.
Realizing our Bluebird Monitoring program was getting too large for just one person to coordinate, we set out to form a team of volunteers in 2021 to assist with managing the program. Sarah and Liam were among the first to respond, saying they would like to share their skills to repair and/or build new nestboxes, install guards and perform other maintenance as needed. Together they have visited almost every one of our 58 trails, comprising 721 nestboxes, since taking on this role! In preparation for the 2024 bluebird nesting season, Sarah and Liam visited 21 trails and repaired or replaced 51 houses, among other odd repairs.
When asked about their favorite thing in nature, Sarah says she is amazed by “how nature adjusts to survive, if humans don’t get too much in the way.” She enjoys seeing and learning about “the symbiotic relationship between things in nature that depend and rely upon each other, like trees dependent upon the fungi in the forest to flowers dependent upon bees and birds to pollinate.” Liam enjoys “discovering and watching new species that can be found a mere couple hours away” and “the novelty of discoveries on vacations and road trips.”
Thank you, Sarah and Liam, for all your help with keeping our bluebird nest boxes in good repair. We appreciate all you and our other volunteers do to create a place where people and wildlife thrive together.