Words On Birds 04-03-21

Encourage Bluebirds to Your Yard
April 03, 2021
By Steve Grinley

     It wasn’t so long ago that bluebirds were a rare sight in this area. The use of DDT in the 1950s and 60s along with competition for nesting sites from house sparrows caused their populations to plummet. The banning of pesticides and the efforts of people to put up suitable nesting boxes for bluebirds have helped bring back these beautiful birds to our rural and suburban neighborhoods. This year, hardly a day goes by when some customer will tell me that they have bluebirds in their yard for the first time.

     Early spring is the time when bluebirds start to establish their territories, reclaim nesting boxes from seasons past, or scout out new houses for this season. If you have bluebird nest boxes up, do check them and clean them out if necessary. Often times they will be used for roosting during the winter months so it is best to be sure they are clean and ready for new occupants.

     The real estate market for bluebirds is like our current market – there is not a large inventory out there for them. If you don’t have houses up, now is the time to put one up or add new ones. Bluebirds begin nesting in late March and April. They have two or, sometimes, three broods so they may take to a nesting box anytime between now and mid-summer.

     Bluebirds feed on insects in low grasses, so it is best to place the box near the edge of a lawn or other open area. Putting the nest box on a separate pole helps to deter predators, but bluebirds naturally nest in tree cavities, so attaching a house to a tree is also an option. Like most nest boxes, position the box so it doesn’t face north or northeast from which we get our cold driving winds, rain, and, yes, even snow early in Spring. Bluebirds are territorial, but you can add boxes three hundred feet apart with the possibility of attracting multiple pairs.

     Tree swallows compete for the same size box, but tree swallows are just beginning to arrive in our area. Swallows eat a lot of flying insects, so they are also cool birds to attract to your yard. Nesting boxes can be paired within ten to twenty feet of each other allowing tree swallows and bluebirds to nest side-by-side. Together they can fight off the dreaded house sparrow that is enemy number one to both the swallows and the bluebirds. The sparrows are so aggressive that they will actually kill the adult birds or their young right inside the nest box.

     Another way to encourage bluebirds to stay and nest in your yard is to offer them mealworms. In spring and summer, eighty percent of a bluebird’s diet is insects. During the early in the season, and during the breeding season when the competition for food is high, feeding mealworms can be the key to bluebird success. Plus you get to enjoy these beautiful birds up close as they can easily be put on a schedule. They will be waiting for their next feeding and often respond to the noise of opening the feeder or a simple whistle.

     You can begin by putting the mealworms out in an open dish, perhaps with a dome over it for inclement weather. Other birds will be interested in the mealworms as well, including chickadees, Carolina wrens, robins and, unfortunately, starlings. If competition for the mealworms becomes a problem, there are a number of bluebird feeders that allow the bluebirds to go inside to feed and keeps out starlings and large birds.

     Putting up nesting boxes and feeding mealworms are both ways that we can help, and enjoy, bluebirds this spring!