Simply For The Birds

The primary diet of a Bluebird is insects and fruit.  If you happen to have an American Bittersweet plant in your yard - you are a step ahead to attracting Bluebirds.

Mealworms are an excellent nutritional source of food and many birds love them.  If you are mainly interested in feeding Bluebirds, there are Bluebird feeders designed to specifically feed Bluebirds and keep the others out.  Typically they are designed so that the bird has to go through an entrance hole to get to the worms- Bluebirds will do that, most other birds won’t.

Did you know that you can train Bluebirds?  Try whistling or making some other call when refilling their feeders and see what happens!

There are three types of Bluebirds found in the U.S.  The Eastern Bluebird found East of the Rockies which is the most numerous.  Across the Western one third of the U.S. you will also find Western Bluebirds and Mountain Bluebirds.  The Mountain and Western Bluebirds are a little larger in size, so keep that in mind when acquiring a bird house.  A Bluebird house that has a floor measuring 4″ x 4″ with an opening of 1 1/2″ is suitable for the Eastern variety.  Whereas, if you are looking to accommodate the larger Bluebird - you need to look for a 5″ x 5″ floor with an opening of 1 9/16″.

The female typically lays four to five light blue eggs that will hatch in 13 to 15 days.  The male will bring food to the female and young during the first few days after the chicks hatch.  The young Bluebirds will fledge in 15 to 20 days.

Key elements to attracting Bluebirds to your backyard are housing, food and water.  They prefer open areas - not heavily wooded areas.