Educate Yourself About the Eastern Bluebird and Other Bluebirds
Eastern Bluebird
The Eastern Bluebird has a stout bill, blue in color with an orange-rusty breast, throat and neck, round-shouldered when perched, short blue wings and tail.Its length is 7in (18cm)
Its wingspan is 13in (33cm) Its voice is a song in series of 3 to 4 soft gurgling calls, the call is a musical “chur-wi or tru-li”. Their eggs are pale blue or sometimes pure white, with 2 or 3 clutches consisting of 4-5 or (2-7) eggs. The female incubates for around 12-14 days, and fledging time is 15-20 days.Both male and female feed their young and sometimes young ones from previous broods will help with this task.The female looks similar but for a blue-gray back and lighter orange underparts.
The Eastern Bluebird can be found in almost two-thirds of the country, from the Great Plains, and the eastern foothills of the Rockies to south-eastern Arizona, and eastward clear through the Gulf Coast and Atlantic seaboard. They will migrate further north to southern Canada, and its cousin the Western Bluebird, (Scialia mexicana) witch will take over where the Eastern Bluebird left off, with some overlapping areas. Both birds look similar but for the chestnut shoulders and a blue belly on the Western Bluebird.
Ground-dwelling insects like crickets, caterpillars, and grasshoppers are the diet the bluebirds will feast on most of the year. They can spot these little camouflage critters, perching in trees high above the ground, as high as 150ft (45m) which tells us that bluebirds must have incredible eyesight. But mostly you will find them perching on lower branches scanning the ground for their next meal.
The Eastern Bluebird is not only a very pretty backyard visitor; it is also extremely helpful in the ever loosing quest to keep thousands of insect pests, including beetles, grasshoppers and caterpillars away from us and our gardens. Get a bluebird to nest next to your vegetable garden, and your troubles are over, when it comes to pest control. The bluebird have next to no fear of people and will readily move into your lovely bird feeding garden, as long as there are some large, grassy open areas near by.
Unfortunately when it comes to nesting opportunities the Eastern Bluebird, and like other bluebird populations, has suffered a great deal due to the introduction of House Sparrows, and European Starlings. They compete aggressively over the limited number of natural nesting cavity spaces, such as the woodpecker holes. By the time the blue birds has return from their migration in the spring, many of the natural nesting opportunities are already fully booked by sparrows and starlings.
Starting right after Christmas, the bluebirds will pick nesting spots, long before their nesting time in early March. Therefore put out your nest boxes in beginning of February, to make sure they have plenty of time to move in before sparrows and starlings occupy any of the bird houses. The female will build the nest that consists of dead grass, weed steams, rootlets, and fine twigs.
If you like to attract bluebirds to your lovely bird feeding garden, adding a beautiful stone birdbath will increase the “bluebird appeal”. But more importantly, put up birdhouses or nest boxes far from shrubs, and human housing to reduce the competition with House Wrens and House Sparrows. Plant berry-producing shrubs, plus put out raisins and live mealworms.Go to our section on NEST BOXES AND SHELFS to find out more.
