The Eastern Bluebird State Birds (week 8)

I took photo in Missouri

The Bluebird is the state bird for New York, and Missouri. Now that we have that out of the way there are actually a few types of Bluebirds to choose from. The Eastern Bluebird which is most common to this part of the country. The Western Bluebird, and the Mountain Bluebird are found in the Southwestern states and along the Pacific coast; the Mountain Bluebird is also found in the Rocky Mountains of the U.S.A and up into Canada. So with the understanding that neither the Mountain or Western Bluebird is common to New York or Missouri lets talk about the Eastern Bluebird.

The Mountain Bluebird is the state bird for the states of Idaho and Nevada. We can talk about him another day perhaps.

The Eastern Bluebird is Blue (who knew) with a rusty red throat and breast, and a tummy that is white the female is much less colored. It is about 7 inches in length, so a little smaller than the American Robin, and thinner. The Bluebird likes to live in in open areas like farm fields or large yards, with scattered trees and along roadsides. Bluebirds will readily accept a Bluebird nesting box as home for breeding. Bluebirds love bugs like grasshoppers, crickets and beetles. They also love invertebrates (things without a backbone)  like worms, spiders, bugs, and snails. Bluebirds will also eat berries and fruit.

This was taken on our deck, here is a mom and her fledgling

I gotta say right now that a Bluebird is a very crabby looking bird, almost as crabby looking as swallows. Oh well you can't help the way you look. Bluebirds only visit us in the Summer, they winter in the south, around west Texas. And can be found all year long in the south eastern states and in to Mexico.

A Bluebird house is very basic and would be easy to build, you may be surprised and get a Bluebird family; if they come it is very likely that you will have Bluebirds every year. We have had a couple pairs every year for over 15 years.

Check out some extra info;
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Bluebird/id

Here are some nesting box plans if you want to build one:
http://www.nysbs.org/handouts/BluebirdNestingBoxes.pdf