Medina Bluebird Trail counts 168 birds fledged from 45 bird houses

Photos courtesy of Daniel Rosentreter: These photos from the summer show house wrens at left and freshly hatched bluebirds.

MEDINA – The 45 birdhouses on the new Medina Memorial Bluebird Trail proved popular spots for birds to nest this spring and summer.

There were 168 birds fledged from the boxes – 124 house wrens, 29 bluebirds and 15 tree swallows.

Daniel Rosentreter is the leader of the effort. He secured the Medina Village Board permission to install the bird houses near the perimeter of Boxwood Cemetery, Butts Park, Gulf Park, Lions Park, Pine Street Park and State Street Park.

He secured some donations with the boxes as memorials for community members. He worked with volunteers – Scott Grimm, Delbert Young and Bridget DiCureia – to install the bird houses on ¾-inch galvanized electrical pipe.

Daniel Rosentreter is pleased with the success of the Medina Memorial Bluebird Trail. There are 45 bird houses at five parks in Medina  as well as Boxwood Cemetery.

Rosentreter checked the boxes weekly to see if there was any activity, and he took photos of what he saw with his phone and posted the pictures on the Facebook page for the Medina Memorial Bluebird Trail.

Sometimes he opened the box to see a bird on the nest, getting ready to lay an egg. He has pictures of the eggs, freshly hatched babies and feathered birds ready to fledge and leave the nest.

“We’re helping them to repopulate,” said Rosentreter, a wildlife photographer and customer service representative for a local insurance company. “They will go wherever they can find a house.”

Birds have lost some of their nesting areas with many dead or decaying trees taken down in the community. Those trees have cavities for birds to make nests and lay eggs.

This bird house is installed at State Street Park near the Erie Canal.

He is grateful the Medina village officials welcomed the bluebird trail and that the birds responded to the houses.

Rosentreter, 29, has been a wildlife photographer for about eight years. He got into birding about four years ago.

“It’s peaceful and quiet,” he said about bird watching. “You see how birds interact in their own environment.”

The birdhouses on the trail are in open areas which are popular for bluebirds and in wooded spots that are more appealing to house wrens.

Rosentreter said some of the birdhouses may be relocated to where there are less people. There is one at State Street Park near the pavilion where bands play. That is a little too loud for the birds, Rosentreter said.

He would like to create a not-for-profit organization to keep the trail going for years to come, and possibly expand.