By Carla Burgess

• Introduction
• Bird and Box Tips
• Identifying Other Species
• Feeding Bluebirds
• Cool Links
• Download the full article as a

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Bluebirds are members of the thrush family and a bit larger than sparrows, about 7 inches. Males are vivid blue with a rusty-red breast and white belly. Females are similarly colored but much duller. Young birds have a gray-and-white speckled breast with a tinge of blue in the wings and tail.

Bluebirds are often described as having a cheerful song and disposition. Adults and children alike are enchanted by bluebirds’ stark beauty and docile nature. They spend hours watching them build their nests and peering into boxes to count the eggs and young.

In the temperate season, bluebirds feed almost exclusively on insects. They hunt from high perches, scanning the ground for grasshoppers, grubs and other insects, then swooping down to snatch up their prey. Both the male and female feed their babies meals of primarily soft insects. In the winter, when insects are scarce, bluebirds eat berries. They particularly love the berries of hollies and dogwoods. Beautyberry, elderberry, mulberry and sumacs (staghorn or winged) are other suitable fruit-bearers that homeowners are encouraged to plant.

Bluebirds stay in North Carolina year-round and usually begin searching for nesting sites in late February or early March. So it’s best to put up new boxes by January or early February. Days or weeks may pass before the male and female begin collecting grasses or pine straw to build a nest, usually in April. They typically build a nest in five or six days. The female begins laying eggs four or five days later. She lays one light blue (or rarely white) egg each day until the clutch is completed, then begins incubating them. The young hatch in about 17 to 18 days and spend another two weeks in the nest.

Bonded pairs can raise three broods each season—the first brood averages five young, the second brood four and the last one three, though as many as six may comprise a brood. The breeding season lasts until early September.