BUSY BLUEBIRDS

BUSY BLUEBIRDS

By Kathy Van Mullekom

Daily Press (Newport News, Va.)

When my husband, Ken, heads for the yard, he’s got good company — bluebirds watching his every move.

They follow him to the backyard, hoping he’s going to fill their feeder with the dried mealworms we religiously keep on hand and buy by the 22-pound bulk bag.

When he heads to the front garage, they again follow him, perching and watching while he sits and sips cool water.

For more than a decade, eastern bluebirds have been our buddies, staying the year to entertain us with their amusing behavior and sky-blue hues.

Members of the Historic Rivers Chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalists in Williamsburg, Va., feel much the same way about bluebirds. For four years, the group has been involved in a Citizen Science project, working as volunteers to enhance bluebird conservation by monitoring nest boxes along eight trails in nearby cities and counties.

“I became enchanted with the eastern bluebird in Illinois where we had nest boxes in our yard and enjoyed watching the family life of several migratory bluebird pairs,” says Jan Lockwood, coordinator of the monitoring project. She moved to Williamsburg in 2009, trained as a master naturalist and became a volunteer monitor on a bluebird trail.

This season, the birds nested later than usual, she says. Even so, there were 363 young bluebirds fledging from the 204 nest boxes on the trails, according to the group’s report in early July.

Bluebirds can nest up to three times during the summer months; the second nesting now underway includes 73 eggs, 149 chicks and an additional 53 fledglings.

Once the female begins to incubate a second or third clutch, the male feeds the first fledglings and teaches them to forage for their own food.

“Bluebirds are exceptionally busy during this phase,” says Lockwood.

“On the trails, we find it difficult to observe since the fledglings don’t return to the nest, but we do see them flying after their parents calling for food.”

In addition to eastern bluebirds, the United States is home to western bluebirds and mountain bluebirds.

Western types like open woodland, both coniferous and deciduous, and they live in yards, burned areas and farmland, from the sea level far up into the mountains, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (www.birds.cornell.edu).

Mountain bluebirds prefer more open habitats than other bluebirds, and are found in colder regions in winter, according to Cornell.

All bluebirds like insects and berries, especially the fruits from plant species native to their area.