Student Abstracts: Environmental Science at FERMI

Evaluation of the Success of Bluebird Boxes at Fermilab. MARIA TORRES (University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607) ROD WALTON (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL 60510) .
At Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, in Batavia, Illinois, bluebird boxes are posted in various areas around the facility. The key to a successful increase of the bluebird population, with the use of bluebird boxes, is continuous monitoring. Along with monitoring, location of the bluebird boxes and the proper design of the box is needed. This research was conducted by using an Euler circuit. The bluebird boxes that were focused on were visited three times a week over a ten-week time frame. The bluebird boxes that were monitored throughout this research were in four different sections. One was in the Main Ring, another in the Interpretive Trails, another along Road C, and the last one was near Site 38 at Fermilab. Information that was noted from observing the boxes was to see if they are successfully being used by bluebirds. After the data was recorded and analyzed, the outcome was that these bluebird boxes were not successful. Many of the data give different reason why they may have not been suc cessful. Some reasons may have been because the boxes have not been steadily monitored until the research was started, the location of the box and its surroundings, and most of the boxes were not correctly built according to the proper design. Since this is the start of a continuing research, monitoring must be continuous in order to maintain and increase the bluebird population that is here.