I'm not going to repeat Roger Hoffman's posting on the decline of bluebirds
in the Olympic Mtns., but just toss in the thread that whenever we discuss
bird populations we need to examine everything about the bird. We can
manage our forests exactly right for nesting bluebirds, but if their
wintering habitat isn't adequately managed the population will suffer.

A guess, and only that, in the case of Mountain Bluebirds, the main
population wintered in the San Joaquin Valley of California or other dry
open areas of the Southwestern U.S. During the 60's and 70's many of these
areas were irrigated and converted to agricultural cropland. Someone could
go back and check the Christmas Bird Counts.

--Jerry Tangren