"It's great that we have returned the Eastern Bluebird to the City of Yonkers," said Michael Bochnik, president of the Hudson River Audubon Society, which erected and monitored the nest boxes at the Westchester County park. "It's encouraging to know that it's possible to bring back a species that was in decline."

Bluebirds are cavity nesters with a preference for open spaces such as fields and orchards. As Yonkers and lower Westchester became more developed over the years, bluebird breeding habitat disappeared. As a result, beginning in the 1950s, nesting bluebirds were no longer found in southern Westchester. The New York State Breeding Bird Atlas of 1980-1985 documented the continuing absence of the species below Tarrytown. Bluebirds, however, have been counted on occasion in the area on winter surveys, such as Audubon's annual Christmas Bird Count.

The Hudson River Audubon Society decided to identify remaining tracts of appropriate nesting areas and erect nest boxes at the sites in an attempt to attract the bluebird back to Yonkers. The objective would prove especially difficult as the chapter avoided golf courses because of their use of pesticides and the resulting threat to birds. The chapter also avoided sites that would be exposed to vandalism, and instead, focused its attention on the 40-acre Lenoir site and residential properties, erecting a trail from Irvington to Yonkers that now numbers 50 nest boxes. Though only the nest box in Yonkers has successfully fledged bluebirds, other species, such as Tree Swallows and House Wrens, have also used the boxes to breed young.

"We are gratified that the bluebirds finally returned to successfully nest in our home town of Yonkers," says Joe O'Connell, who with his wife, Ellen, chaired the chapter's initial Bluebird Committee and built about 60 bluebird houses for the project.

The odyssey to bring back the bluebird began in 1998, with the placement of several boxes at Lenoir Preserve. For the first three years, bluebirds moving through the area during the fall were seen checking out the nest boxes, but the birds failed to return in the spring breeding season. Late in 2001, while cleaning out the boxes, chapter members found bluebird eggs in one of the houses, which indicated a nesting attempt. What prompted the parents to abandon the nest is not known; one theory held that the field was subject to too much human activity and disturbance, including periodic visits by film crews. The following year, in an effort to protect the site, chapter members erected fencing around the field as a barrier to those who might wander too close to the nest boxes. Bluebirds showed up and selected a box, but then moved on without nesting.

This past spring, bluebirds showed up again but didn't seem to stay. Then in July a chapter member noticed a pair of bluebirds flying around the field and observed them entering box #13 with food, indicating that nestlings surely had been hatched.

"The bluebird is beloved for its beauty, but like many bird species, it is also beneficial because it eats lots of insects, thus providing natural pest management," says Carol Capobianco, past president of the chapter who conceived the idea of returning the bluebird to Yonkers.