What does it take to bring a species back from the brink? People who keep showing up.
The western bluebird was declared locally extinct on Vancouver Island in the 1990s, after the Garry oaks it nested in were cleared for pasture. Competition from invasive starlings and house sparrows added to the pressure.
Now, thanks to volunteers, the 2026 season is the best yet. The Cowichan Valley is home to 156 bluebirds, adults and juveniles combined, up from roughly 20 adults and 90 juveniles last year. Add the San Juan Island reintroduction run by the San Juan Preservation Trust, and the Salish Sea area has 286.
A similar project provided guidance and tips for success. Since 1983, volunteers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state have maintained nest boxes and restored habitat, and that thriving population now supplies birds for Cowichan. Pairs travel with their nestlings to on-site aviaries, and about 85 to 90% of those birds fledge there, according to Gary Slater of the Ecostudies Institute.
It hasn’t been easy. Cold, wet springs in 2014 and 2015 wiped out many nests, and the boxes drew predators. The team spent a couple of years rethinking how to protect nests, and it’s paying off.
Slater calls the bluebird a “conservation-reliant species” because someone will always need to install nest boxes, maintain them, and guard them.
There’s room for you to make a difference. Consider checking in with a conservation group near you to see if there’s a project you could support.