Nature News
Bye Bye Blues…Hello Bluebirds!
by Corinne Fulkerson,Certified Birdfeeding Specialist at Wild Birds Unlimited
It’s spring and blue is in the air, or rather bluebirds are in the air! Singing, mating and looking for that perfect bluebird nesting box where they will raise their babies.
Many of you have boxes and know the excitement you feel in March and April when you see the bluebirds taking nesting material into the box. Most of the construction of the nest is accomplished by the female in about 2 to12 days, but usually in 4 or 5 days. She will lay 4-5 pale blue eggs and incubate them for 12-18 days.
After hatching, it takes from 16-20 days before the nestlings are ready to leave the nest as fledglings. Then it takes the parents 3-4 weeks to teach them everything they need to know about being an independent adult bluebird.
You can attract these beautiful birds to your yard by putting up a nesting box. This is their greatest need for raising a family. Once they take up residence, you can have the additional pleasure of their
company by offering them foods that they eat. Their favorite foods are live mealworms, suet pellets, dried cherries, raisins, sunflower chips and unsalted peanut pieces. An additional benefit to offering these types of foods would be that you could see them all year! Even up on your deck!
Some people will whistle or ring a bell when they’re refilling the feeder. The bluebirds soon learn that that means “dinner is on the table!” and they are waiting for you if you do it at the same time every day. Many people feel blessed to have these beautiful birds, and hopefully, you can be blessed also!
But the life of the bluebird hasn’t been easy. Beginning in the 1800’s, bluebirds had competition from non-native English House Sparrows and European Starlings for tree cavity nesting sites. In 1851, the House Sparrow was brought from England because it was erroneously thought they would help pollinate fruit trees. In 1890, the European Starling was brought from Europe because someone wanted every bird that Shakespeare ever wrote about. These two species are more aggressive cavity nesters and began taking over the bluebird nesting sites. Hence, the bluebird population began declining.
Thankfully, a gentleman in the early 1920’s or 30’s developed a design for a nesting box. The dimensions were suitable to the bluebirds, and the 1 ½” entry hole eliminated the starling, but not the house sparrow, and the rest is history. Each year we have more and more bluebirds. It is so encouraging! Thanks to all of you bluebird lovers out there who are providing them good care.
The Indiana Bluebird Society is an organization to check out on the web. They offer good information regarding nesting habits, starting a bluebird trail, predator or other problems, and the type of plants for your habitat that produce berries the bluebirds like to eat.
Also during nesting season, they monitor by county the number of nesting bluebirds. So, I encourage all of you bluebird landlords to register your bluebird families. I know Allen County has a large population, as well as the surrounding counties. You can check out their website at
www.indianabluebirdsociety.org
Good luck to all of you in experiencing the joy of attracting bluebirds into your yard! And if you have any questions, please call or come into the store. We have the nest boxes, pole systems, mealworms, feeders and much more to help you out. Check out our customer’s neat bluebird pictures!