Eastern Bluebird

quantities of insects, such as cutworms and grasshoppers which damage our crops and gardens. These types of bluebirds make their home in North America: The Eastern Bluebird, The Western Bluebird and the Mountain Bluebird. These beautiful birds were once very common in much of the United States. However, over the past century their numbers have diminished due to the loss of natural habitat, overuse of pesticides and predators.

· Bluebirds prefer to live in open areas such as parks, pastures and meadows. Bluebirds eat large quantities of insects. Insects make up 60% – 80% of a bluebirds diet. They like to perch in small trees or fence posts and swoop down to eat insects on the grassy ground. Bluebirds will not typically visit your seed feeders, but will eat berry or insect suet that you place in a suet feeder for them.

· Bluebirds nest in natural tree cavities and old woodpecker holes. When natural nesting sites are scarce, bluebirds will use nesting boxes. Bluebird nesting boxes should be mounted on a fence post or pole, low to the ground, but no higher then 4-5’ above the ground. Situate the nesting boxes along woodland edges facing open land. Keep your nesting boxes as far away from human habitation as possible.

· Providing nesting materials is a very important factor in attracting nesting bluebirds to your backyard. Collecting nesting materials can take 100’s of trips. Bluebirds like soft grasses and fragrant pine needles as nesting material. Provide these nesting materials in a specially designed container, an empty suet cage, or you can simply gather bunches of material and situate it in the bark of a tree.

· Bluebirds, like all insect eating birds drink lots of water daily. Offer plenty of water sources, such as bird baths, in your bardyard.

Plant scattered fruit and berry trees, mixed with open lawn and herbaceous flower beds to make an excellent Bluebird habitat. Bluebirds enjoy the berries and fruits from red cedar, Virginia creep. Holly, dogwood, sumas, blueberry, bayberry, hackberry and elderberry.

· Bluebirds will also eat chopped fruit, berries and chopped peanut kernels from a platform feeder.

· To learn more about bluebirds join the North American Bluebird Society.