Daddy bringing home the “Happy Meal-worm” for the kiddos!

This beauty and his partner have taken up residence in our backyard living in an old nesting box made by my Dad many years ago. The box is on a pole on the top of our mound system. They were in a neighbors yard last year and came back to bless our yard this year with their lovely coloring, song and four babies.

Eastern Bluebirds live in open country around trees, but seem to prefer the area to be void of bushes with sparse ground cover. Our yard backs up to an agricultural field filled with insects and we have a large pond with feeding opportunities galore. Despite our providing dried meal worms, they seem to prefer insects caught on their own. Major prey include caterpillars, beetles crickets, grasshoppers, and spiders. We had them visit our hulled and chipped sunflower seed bird feeder once or twice this year, which we have never seen before.

Eastern Bluebirds put their nests in natural cavities or in nest boxes– even in our mailbox once. After a male Eastern Bluebird has attracted a female to his nest site (by carrying material in and out of the hole, perching, and fluttering his wings), the female does all the nest building. She makes the nest by loosely weaving together grasses and pine needles, then lining it with fine grasses and occasionally turkey feathers. We were fortunate to have four in this brood. July 2020.