The Beloved, Brilliant American Bluebird

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A male eastern bluebird perches on an eastern redbud tree. Bluebirds are unique to North America, and at least one of the three American bluebird species graces every state except Hawaii and every Canadian province except Newfoundland.
A male eastern bluebird perches on an eastern redbud tree. Bluebirds are unique to North America, and at least one of the three American bluebird species graces every state except Hawaii and every Canadian province except Newfoundland.
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Its rusty breast and the light blue tinge on its belly distinguish the western bluebird.
Its rusty breast and the light blue tinge on its belly distinguish the western bluebird.
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The mountain bluebird is characterized by its full body of vivid blue plumage.
The mountain bluebird is characterized by its full body of vivid blue plumage.
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A bluebird nest is a tight cup woven mostly of grass, plant stems or pine needles. After completing it, the female bluebird lays one egg per day. To ensure her young will hatch at the same time, she starts incubating only after she has laid the entire clutch, which is usually four to six eggs.
A bluebird nest is a tight cup woven mostly of grass, plant stems or pine needles. After completing it, the female bluebird lays one egg per day. To ensure her young will hatch at the same time, she starts incubating only after she has laid the entire clutch, which is usually four to six eggs.
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A male and a female eastern bluebird hang out atop a nest box, which provides shelter from weather and predators, and a place for the female to lay her eggs.
A male and a female eastern bluebird hang out atop a nest box, which provides shelter from weather and predators, and a place for the female to lay her eggs.
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Scientifically speaking, bluebirds aren’t really blue. The bluebird’s blue is called a “structural color,” caused when light is scattered and reflected by tiny structures within each feather’s myriad microscopic barbules. If you were to grind a bluebird feather to a powder, its color would be ashen gray.
Scientifically speaking, bluebirds aren’t really blue. The bluebird’s blue is called a “structural color,” caused when light is scattered and reflected by tiny structures within each feather’s myriad microscopic barbules. If you were to grind a bluebird feather to a powder, its color would be ashen gray.
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An eastern bluebird mother feeds her youngster. Baby bluebirds grow quickly: They have feathers after a week and a half, and within three weeks, they’re able to fly from the nest.
An eastern bluebird mother feeds her youngster. Baby bluebirds grow quickly: They have feathers after a week and a half, and within three weeks, they’re able to fly from the nest.
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The eastern male bluebird (left) uses more than 50 song phrases to woo mates and stake out territory.
The eastern male bluebird (left) uses more than 50 song phrases to woo mates and stake out territory.
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A western bluebird couple shares a heart-shaped cuddle.
A western bluebird couple shares a heart-shaped cuddle.

Everybody loves a bluebird. No other bird is featured more often in our prose, poetry, and song. The bluebird is the cheery little guy on your shoulder as you sing zip-a-dee-doo-dah. Bluebirds fly somewhere over the rainbow. “The bluebird carries the sky on his back,” wrote Henry David Thoreau. But there is substance, not just lyrical literature, behind our fondness for bluebirds. They have earned their place in our hearts.

Bluebirds occur only in North America. European settlers called them “blue robins,” because the birds’ size and rusty breast reminded them of English robins. Comparatively scarce in pre-colonial days, the American bluebird thrived as pioneers cleared forests and plowed fields, creating the open, woodland-edged habitat they favor. Orchards and field crops served up concentrations of tasty insects. Bluebirds nest in tree cavities, and farmers furnished housing by surrounding their fields with cavity-prone wood fence posts. At the turn of the 20th century, bluebirds were common in much of rural America, and even nested in urban residential areas.

The story changed soon after, however, when bluebirds were hit with a double whammy: House sparrows and starlings — aggressive European imports whose populations had burgeoned since their arrival on our shores — robbed bluebirds of their traditional nest sites, destroyed eggs and killed fledglings. At the same time, modern orchard pruning practices, routine removal of dead trees, and replacement of wood fence posts with metal drastically diminished the number of nesting cavities available to bluebirds. The use of DDT and other pesticides also harmed bluebirds. Their numbers nose-dived. “During the past 40 years,” wrote bluebird expert Lawrence Zeleny in the June 1977 National Geographic, “the population of the eastern bluebird may have plummeted by as much as 90 percent.” The birds, Zeleny said, had become “so scarce that most people under 30 have never seen one.” Extinction, he wrote, was “a real possibility.”

Zeleny’s alarming article, as well as his 1976 book pointedly titled The Bluebird: How You Can Help Its Fight for Survival, were wake-up calls to the public, and a movement was born. In 1978, Zeleny founded the North American Bluebird Society (NABS) to provide information on building and siting nest boxes, dealing with competing species, and nurturing bluebirds and other cavity-nesters. To this day, NABS and many similar state organizations continue to help people in the United States and Canada help bluebirds. Thanks to the organization’s advice and the efforts of countless people, bluebird populations are bouncing back in most areas.

The Blues Trio

  • Published on Jul 28, 2010
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