Elsie Eltzroth established the Audubon Society of Corvallis Bluebird Trail in 1976 and was coordinator of the project until 2008. Elsie Kollin Eltzroth earned a BS in Zoology from Ohio University in 1947 and a teaching certificate from Central Missouri State University in 1962. Elsie K. and Merlin S. Eltzroth were married in 1943 and moved to Corvallis in 1971.
The Bluebird Trail was established in Corvallis in 1976 as a U.S. Bicentennial project and grew to 173 nesting boxes by 1978; it continues to be an active project of the Audubon Society of Corvallis.
The Bluebird Habitat Research Records document the Aububon Society of Corvallis Bluebird Trail project to monitor western bluebirds at nesting boxes placed within 20-25 miles of Corvallis. The bulk of the records consist of forms and field notes completed by volunteer monitors on the activity at specific nesting boxes. The records also include correspondence, notes, statistical summaries, and narrative reports written and compiled by Elsie Eltzroth. The statistics summarize the number of nesting boxes in use per year, nesting pairs observed, returns records, average clutch size, and dead specimens that were found.
About half of the field data document species other than western bluebirds that occupied the nesting boxes, including swallows, wrens, and chickadees.
The records include materials pertaining to the North American Nest Record Card Program, based at Cornell University, including newsletters, correspondence, and copies of nest record cards of the Corvallis project that were submitted by Eltzroth from 1976 to 1997.
Collection is open for research.
Bluebird Habitat Research Records, Oregon State University Archives, Corvallis, Oregon.
The materials were donated to the Archives in 2008.
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