Eastern Bluebird
(Sialia sialis)
Thrush Family
Adult Male
Photo: Ron Austing
SIZE : 5 - 7 inches long
DESCRIPTION : Male - Brilliant blue head, back, wings, and tail;brick-red throat and breast.
Female - Rich buff-colored throat and breast, blue-grayish back and head,light
blue wings and tail; white eye-ring; upper part of female is variable in color,
ranging to blue, as dark as the male to grayish-brown.
Immature - Mostly gray, spotted with white on back and breast
PREFERRED HABITAT: Orchards, farmlands, roadsides, and open woodlands. May come to parks and yards, especially rural ones.
PREFERRED FOOD : Insects. Usually, beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and crickets, but not many flying insects.
Berries added to diet in fall. Bluebird-approved berries are:poison ivy, sumac,
blueberries (of course!), blackberries, currants, asparagus, dogwood, choke-cherry, huckleberry,
elaeagnus, date palm, Virginia creeper, bittersweet, mountain ash, euonymous ('burning bush'),
black gum, cotoneaster, and camphor tree.
Feeds from perches, dropping down to the ground to catch insects, sometimes catching them in-flight.
May come to feeder for mealworms, peanut butter mixes, raisins, peanuts and berries.
BREEDING RANGE :Nova Scotia, east to Saskatchewan, south through Texas to Central America, east along Gulf states to
Florida & southeastern Arizona.
WINTER RANGE : Southern New England, west to eastern New Mexico, south to Mexico.
INTERESTING FACTS: Three species of bluebirds live in the United States and Canada.
Ther Eastern Bluebird is the only bluebird east of the Great Plains
Cavity nester: prefers natural tree cavity, abandoned woodpecker home or special bluebird nest box.
Population has been declining in the past because of lack of nesting sites, as this bird encountered
much nesting competition from English house sparrows and European starlings. Countless nest boxes put
up by the American Bluebird Society and many other caring individuals, have improved the bluebird
population growth.
Bluebirds will readily use nest boxes that meet their required dimensions.
The boxes should be placed at least 400 feet apart and preferably not within site of each other.
Bluebirds are very territorial. Up to 3 carefully positioned boxes may be used per acre of land.
The male arrives in the breeding area first and selects a cavity for a nest.
The female builds the nest and incubates the eggs; they both take care of the young.
A pair raises 2 or 3 broods per season.
Song is a series of slurred whistles, like, 'cheer, cheerful, charmer' and the call is a mellow 'turwee'.