#Build your own bluebird feeder pdf
#Build your own bluebird feeder series

#Build your own bluebird feeder series

The song is a series of three or four soft musical notes, often described as a warble.įeeding: Keen-eyed Eastern Bluebirds feed on ground-dwelling insects, including beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, and caterpillars, which they can spot while perched as far as 150 feet away. Voice: The call is a musical chur-wi or tru-ly. In flight, look for short blue wings and tail. Both sexes are seven inches long and stout billed. Females look similar but have a blue-gray back and lighter orange underparts. They are also found in parts of Mexico, Central America, and Bermuda.įield marks: Males are bright blue above and rusty orange below with a white belly. They typically begin nesting as early as January in the south and in March in the northern United States and southern Canada. Range: Eastern Bluebirds are year-round residents in the southern United States. More recently, however, their populations have been affected by loss of habitat and tree cavities, unusually cold winters in the 1960s and 1970s, egg and chick predation, and competition for nesting sites by introduced House Sparrows and European Starlings. Ironically, the cutting of Eastern forests, especially pine woods, for agriculture in the nineteenth century may have actually benefited Eastern Bluebirds by creating additional foraging and nesting habitat. Others put up a second box nearby only when a non-bluebird species has claimed a nest box first. Some people believe it encourages other species more than it accommodates bluebirds. But the nest box “pairing” idea is not with-out differing opinions. This “peaceable kingdom” occurs for practical reasons: These bird neighbors, by and large, do not share the same food supply. Bluebirds may nest in one, and swallows, chickadees, or titmice in the other. So reduce competition by installing pairs of bluebird nest boxes no more than fifteen to twenty feet apart. Tree Swallow pairs won’t nest close to one another either.

Since bluebirds defend large feeding territories around their nests-one or two acres in early spring-they don’t want to nest close to other bluebirds. Most important, bluebirds need to live near a ready supply of insect food. By contrast, bluebirds like nest boxes out in the open even a small yard with open spaces will suit a bluebird. Chickadees and titmice, for example, prefer nest boxes near or under mature trees or within woodlands and forests. Knowing where to place and where not to place bluebird nest boxes is critical. A well-built and well-placed blue-bird nest box in your own backyard or nearby park can help boost local populations.Įven with nest boxes in place, bluebirds must compete with both introduced and native species that also want to call these nest boxes their home.

Many of those have been removed or replaced with treated wood, plastic, or metal posts.

Not long ago, many bluebirds nested in wooden fence posts, especially around farms. Competition for these limited sites is a huge problem, especially in early spring. But today, natural cavities can be hard to find. In the natural world, all three species of North American bluebirds-the Eastern, Western, and Mountain Bluebirds-seek tree cavities or woodpecker holes for nesting sites.

#Build your own bluebird feeder pdf

Barker and Elissa Wolfson. You can also download a printable PDF of the instructions here. This article has been adapted from the Audubon Birdhouse Book by Margaret A.