Bountiful Bluebirds

Bird Watcher News May 28th, 2013

Eastern Bluebird
Nesting Schedule

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Nest building: 1-6 days
Egg laying: 5-7 days (one each day)
Incubation: 12-14 days
Brooding: 6 days
Fledging: day 16-21

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Day 1: Bright, coral-pink skin, eyes sealed, down in sparse tufts.

Day 2-4: Wings, head, and spine look bluish due to developing feathers under skin.

Day 5-7: Feather sheaths begin to emerge on wings. Eyes still closed.

Day 7: First feathers burst from tip of sheaths. Eyes open as slits. Brooding by female stops.

Day 8-11: Eyes fully open. Feathers continue to burst sheaths.

Day 11-12: Feathers of wing and tail reveal cobalt blue in males, duller gray-blue in females. Female Eastern Bluebirds show white edging on outer tail feathers.

Day 13: Cut off date for box checks.

Fully feathered young become increasingly active, and may fledge prematurely if the box is opened.

Day 14-22: Fledging and first flight. Empty nest soiled, flattened. Young remain in cover while parents bring food.

Day 28 on: Fledglings fly strongly, following parents who feed them.

Day 30 on: Fledglings feed unassisted.

* Try to keep written records or use a calendar. Note the day of hatching so you can be sure to cut off box checks on day 13. You'll want to record dates, time, temperature, egg number, young number, parasites if any, fledglings and parental behavior.

* Try not to monitor too early or late in the day. Tap gently on the box to give mom a chance to leave before slowly
opening the door. Cell phones or digital cameras make checking on boxes easy if you can't reach to see in the box, just hold them up and snap a photo!

* Remove any harmful insects, broken eggs and/or deceased nestlings.

The information above was taken from the booklet "Enjoying Bluebirds More"

which is published by Bird Watcher's Digest.

Male Eastern Bluebird
"The bluebird carries the sky on his back"

Henry David Thoreau

If you poll 8 out of 10 of our customers, they would pick the bluebird as their favorite bird. There is just something special and endearing about these beautiful little thrushes. It's the bird everyone wants to have nest in their bird house, visit their feeders and is a favorite of photographers.

There are actually three species of bluebirds - Eastern, Western and Mountain. In Georgia, we have the Eastern Bluebird. They are common in residential yards, rural fields and meadows, and occasionally in urban or commercial areas (we have a pair that nests at our office in an industrial park every year!) Bluebirds have faced many challenges over the years from overuse of pesticides, a shortage of natural tree cavities and the introduction of non-native House Sparrows and European Starlings. Fortunately, thanks to environmental concerns limiting the use of harmful pesticides, production of bird houses with proper sized holes (1.5") to eliminate starlings and and cowbirds, the use of baffles for predator protection, and help from bluebird lovers that maintain and monitor bluebird trails and backyard nest boxes, they have been removed from the watch list and have a very bright future!

Our best advice for attracting bluebirds to nest in your yard:

~Get a GOOD bluebird house (two or three is even better) - the best are made from cedar, well-ventilated, have drain holes, a 4" x 4" square floor and a 1.5" hole with NO perch.

~Place the house on a pole or post with a baffle (not on a tree!) in an open area away from other houses, bird feeders and outdoor cats.

~Monitor your box! (See instructions on left side of page) And by monitoring, we don't mean eliminating chickadees and titmice. They need homes too! Look for bumble bees, wasps, ants, cracked eggs or dead babies and remove them ASAP. In the Midwest, House Sparrows and blowfly larvae are more of a problem. In Georgia, we often deal with territorial House Wrens (NOT Carolina Wrens) that can destroy eggs or attack nestlings. There is not much you can do about House Wrens besides offer more nest boxes.

~Offer food and fresh water, and landscape with dogwood, serviceberry, viburnum, sumac and mulberry. Allow pokeberry volunteers to ripen. Offer live mealworms and suet, especially in spring and summer.

~Don't use pesticides!

Kennesaw * Roswell * Buford * Marietta * Canton