All About Bluebirds
The brilliant blue seven inch male Eastern Bluebird with his rusty throat, breast and sides and white belly sits high atop a dead tree or branch, TV antenna, or power line to hunt for the insects that make up two-thirds of his diet. He and his mate also eat wild berries, especially in cold weather when insects are not available. They rarely damage cultivated crops, and are very beneficial to farmers and gardeners.
As early as March or as late as June, the male bluebird locates a nesting site, establishes a territory around it, and sings to attract a female and warn other male bluebirds to stay away. Once a female accepts a site, she will do most of the nest building. She builds a neat cup nest of dry grasses or pine needles. Nest building may take five days to three weeks. Bluebirds are very territorial during nesting season and typically will not build within 100 yards of another bluebird nest.
The female lays one blue (or rarely white) egg each morning until three to six eggs are produced. Incubation begins after the last egg is laid. Thirteen to fourteen days later, after incubation, all will hatch within hours of each other.
Both the male and the female adults tend to the nestlings. They feed the nestlings with soft insects graduating to coarser foods as the nestlings grow. Each nestling is fed about every 20 minutes. The adults keep the nest clean by removing the fecal sacs which enclose the nestlings’ waste. The young grow rapidly. Their eyes open on the eighth day.
After the mating season is over, bluebirds give up their territories and flock together. North Carolina bluebirds do not migrate. They are joined by migrating northern bluebirds and roam the area looking for berries. The northern migrants usually move farther south after October. Bluebirds roost in pine tree stands and nesting cavities during cold weather.
Baby Bluebirds
jThe nestlings fledge, or leave the box, seventeen to eighteen days after hatching.
Usually the entire brood leaves the box within two hours.
The fledglings can fly fifty to a hundred feet on their first flight and try to land in a bush, shrub, or low branches of trees to be off the ground and away from predators.
The young have spotted breasts until the fall molt when all bluebirds grow dull feathers for protection from predators.
The males are bright blue again by spring.
The parents continue to care for the young and teach them how to catch their own food. The male will continue this job when the female begins her second or third nest.
The Bluebird Story
Once, long ago, the Eastern Bluebird was one of North Carolina’s most common songbirds. Man’s activities, several severe winters, and other factors resulted in our bluebird population declining by as much as 90%. The bluebird has made a strong comeback, due largely to conservation efforts. However, the continuing loss of natural nesting sites and other problems faced by bluebirds indicate that this beloved bird will always need man’s help to survive.
Reasons for Bluebird Decline
Habitat Loss
Nesting sites were lost when wooden fence posts were replaced with metal posts and dead trees and limbs were cut for firewood and to make wooded areas more attractive.
Many small farms have been combined into large operations with huge fields that destroy the mixed habitat needed by bluebirds.
Cities have spread into rural areas further reducing bluebirds’ preferred habitat.
Limited Food Supply
Birds eat constantly during the day in order to survive cold winter nights. When their food is covered by heavy snow or ice, thousands of birds die.
The winter food supply has also been reduced greatly by civilization’s spread.
The European Starlings strip the fruit from the trees early in the fall, taking a valuable food resource from bluebirds.
Harmful Chemicals
DDT killed the insects bluebirds fed on and even killed the birds themselves.
Non-Native Birds
In the 1800’s man brought the European Starling and House (English) Sparrow (which is really a European weaver finch) to this country from Europe upsetting our balance of nature forever. These birds are so adaptable and aggressive that they spread across the continent taking nesting sites and even killing the native birds and destroying their eggs.
