A Western Bluebird Breakfast

Have you ever wondered what a Western bluebird likes to eat?  As seen in the picture, June bugs are one of their preferred choices.  The picture below was taken by Lee Pauser and it brought a large smile to my face.  June bugs lay their eggs near the end of May/ early June and they age into grubs.  The grubs then munch on roots making the turf weaker and the turf eventually gets  torn up by hungry crow, skunks, or racoons.

We have over 100 Western bluebird boxes on the course and it would be great to see them all like this!

Bluebirds

Driving through the Mountain course, you may have noticed that we have some new bird boxes hanging in some of our trees. Those bird boxes are a new addition this year and they are to house bluebirds. Everything you want to know about bluebirds can be found at this website. The specific benefit for our golf course is that they eat the beetles that eventually molt into grubs that we have on the golf course.

Grubs make our life in maintenance very difficult. In the summertime, they chew the roots off of the grass plant making it very difficult to keep alive. More often than not, the grass succumbs to grubs. If the grass survives the summer, it will only be destroyed in the fall when the raccoons, skunks, and wild pigs come out to eat.

Our bluebird boxes are an environmental approach to ailing our grub problems. Is it the be all, end all; absolutely not. Is it another tool that could help us; absolutely!

Thank you to PJ Kaner, Superintendent at Santa Teresa Golf Club for introducing me to Lee Pauser. Mr. Pauser is a bird enthusiast who is helping with the bluebirds and another interesting project that will be blogged about at another time. Thanks Lee!