New birdhouses have been installed along the Anacostia River on the border of Hyattsville and North Brentwood as part of an effort to help restore the area’s declining bluebird population.

One of the most easily recognizable birds due to their bright blue plumage, bluebirds were once so troubled that in the 1970s some ecologists thought they might go extinct.

Since then, environmentalists have installed thousands of birdhouses where the bluebirds can build their tightly woven grass nests.

Built by naturalists with the Anacostia Watershed Society for a meadow the group restored a few years ago along the Northwest Branch Trail, the eight birdhouses have an entry hole too small for sparrows and a corrugated metal baffle to keep out predators like snakes and raccoons.

Kendra Bierman, interim manager of education for the Anacostia Watershed Society, told the Wire that the boxes will be checked weekly and analyzed. The results will be sent to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology‘s NestWatch program.

Bluebirds begin building their nests in April, typically laying pale blue eggs at the beginning of May.

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