eBirdseed.com Wild Bird Feeding Blog

Greetings,

Time for The Bird of the Week!

There's plenty of info on this site concerning the feeding of bluebirds (and the feeders they seem to prefer) so why don't we take a look at some of the more "esoteric" stuff concerning this colorful creature.

First things first... Many thanks to Star Filbert for the picture below! Excellent work Star!



Mealworms... YUM!

So what about this brilliant little guy? Well, he officially comes in three varieties:

• The Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana) (shown above)
• The Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides)
• The Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sailis)

What else?

• Only the female Eastern Bluebird builds the nest and sits on the eggs. (Though to his credit, the male does supply the building materials.)
• Young born late in the season often winter with the folks.
• The typical bluebird egg is roughly 5/8" wide and 3/4" long.
• Both the Western and Eastern adult males have distinct orangish-red chests, but the Eastern has a white belly as compared to the blue belly of his Western counterpart.

One last point... As for the number of songs and poems about bluebirds? Just take a look at the Web - there have to be dozens if not hundreds of them.

Gotta go!

See you by those blue, blue feeders,

CapeCod"Welcome Those Comments"Alan

References used for this post are listed below:

• Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• Wikipedia
• Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources
• Audubon Society
• The National Audubon Society’s “The Sibley Guide to Birds”