Species: There are three species of bluebirds in North America: eastern bluebirds, western bluebirds, and mountain bluebirds.

Location: The eastern bluebird lives east of the Rocky Mountains. The species is found as far as Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba during the summer months. Most birds spend the winter in the southeastern and south-central states of the US, but some birds migrate into Mexico, northern Honduras, Guatemala, and the pinelands of Nicaragua

Identification

Male: Adult males are bright cobalt blue in color. The throat, breast, and sides of this species have an orange-red coloration. The bird’s belly and undertail coverts are white.

Female: The female of the species also has blue color on the wings and tale, but the female’s feathers are a paler blue than the male. The female has a grey crown and back. The throat, breast and sides are brownish. The belly and undertail are white like the male.

Young: Juvenile birds have blue on the tail and wings but a lighter blue than the adult does. Young birds have a grey crown and back similar to the adult female. The under parts of these birds are spotted as opposed to pure white

Choosing a Nest Site

Males will migrate to a nesting area a few weeks before the females in order to claim a nesting site. Bluebirds are cavity nesters, which means they must find a hole in a tree made by a woodpecker or other natural occurrence, or find a nest box made by a human. Eastern bluebirds will begin staking claim to a site and hunting ground in late February through March in the south and in late April in the extreme north. Older or more experienced birds will claim the nest sites with the best surrounding area sometimes claiming the cavity in which they were raised. Younger birds or those birds arriving late to an area are forced to search a wider range for a site and thus begin courting later than the more experienced birds.

Nesting

The female of the species is responsible for nest building. The bird finds material within one hundred feet of the chosen cavity. Material consists of fine grasses and sometimes pine needles. As the nest progresses, the grasses become finer. The size of a bluebird nest varies with the size of the nest cavity. The size of the inner cup of the nest is usually two and a half inches across and two inches deep. The top of the cup is about three inches below the opening of the cavity. The nest building process takes about five days, unless weather or unsuccessful hunting hinders the process

Eggs

The female bird lays about four or five light blue eggs in each brood, but a female may lay as many as six or seven eggs. Bluebirds usually have two broods a season, but it is possible for them to have three broods. The eggs can also be white in color. The female incubates the eggs for twelve to fourteen days. During times of extended inclement weather, birds can incubate for up to three weeks.

The male does not incubate the eggs. However, the male will sit on the eggs to keep them warm while the female leaves to eat, drink, and bathe. The male brings most of the female’s food so she does not have to stay away from the eggs for extended periods of time

Hatching

When the chicks hatch, the mother and father eat some of the shell, utilizing the calcium found there. The mother takes any left over shell out of the nest and drops it far away from the nesting site. This prevents ants from infesting the cavity and keeps predators from finding the chicks more easily.

The chicks only have a few wisps of down and thus the mother most continue to brood for an additional eight days until the babies start to develop feathers. A brooding mother bluebird may even remain on a nest while a human opens the box to monitor it. Despite the normal instinct to fly when disturbed, bluebirds display a protective nature above that of other birds by remaining on the nest. The parents continue to bring food to the chicks in the nest for an additional eighteen to twenty one days after they hatch.

Bluebird development

Day 1	Day 2	Day3	Day 5	Day 7	Day10
Day12	Day15

Nest Identification

bluebird	tree swallow	chickadee	house wren	house sparrow
Bluebirds make their nest from fine grasses	tree swallows will use fine grasses then line the nest with feathers	chickadee nests are easily identified by the moss they use as well as by the fur that lines the cup	house wrens fill the boxes with sticks and then make a cup of grass. These birds will fill every box nearby completely with sticks	house sparrows will use sticks, grass, paper or whatever trash they may find