The Eastern Bluebird

The Eastern Bluebird is located (you guessed it) in the eastern parts of North America. They are mainly found on the east side of the Rocky Mountains all the way from Mexico up to Canada and even in Honduras…

What do they look like?

The male eastern bird has a bright blue head and back with a rusty reddish brown color on their neck and breast feathers. The female bird are more gray above their neck and have blue tinted wing and tail and a lighter orange or brownish breast feathers.

What types of areas do they live?

These birds live in a more open area in the country near trees and very little underbrush where other critters may be hiding. You are most likely to see them in fields, pastures, golf courses, backyards and parks.

What food do they eat?

These bluebirds mainly eat insects that they find on the ground. The insects they usually will eat include spiders, crickets, beetles, caterpillars and grasshoppers. During the fall/winter season they will eat more fruits and berries such as blueberries, holly, junipers, black cherries, mistletoe, dogwood berries etc.

What types of Nests do they make and what do they use to nest in?

The nesting they make is a funny interesting thing – the male will gather the materials (grasses, pine needles, hair, feathers and the like) once they have collected the material and put it in the nesting box or cavity they are done with their work and now its time to “get the girl” to do the rest of the work. They do this by showing off and flapping their blue wings near the box attracting the female. The female bird will actually put the nest together.

They will build their nests in man made nest boxes or will use natural cavities in trees mainly using old or dead oak or pine trees and sometimes woodpecker holes. They will build their nest anywhere from 2 to 50 feet off the ground. They prefer a tighter more snug box around 4inch square base and they prefer a larger entrance hole at 1” 9/16.

How do they Behave?

The small bluebirds will generally perch on wires and fence posts that look over the open fields. They will look for their food (insects) from these spots. Their vision spans out approximately 60 feet away. They will fly low to the ground looking for insects. Their real estate is a hot commodity and other species of birds such as Sparrows, Swallows, Blue Jays, Mockingbirds, Robins, will try to take over their homes. The male will do what it can to protect their territory and its family. Once the female is attracted it will generally stay with its male for many seasons

Conservation

The eastern bluebird population was in a steady decline and were very rare aprox 50 years ago. But thanks to an effort to save and increase the population of these birds by concerned people and society’s such as the North American Bluebird Society . The population has been in a rise and luckily we can see these birds throughout the east now.