{"id":7431,"date":"2025-02-20T17:19:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T22:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/?p=7431"},"modified":"2025-02-20T17:40:39","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T22:40:39","slug":"seeing-bluebirds-in-your-backyard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/seeing-bluebirds-in-your-backyard\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeing Bluebirds in your backyard?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Bluebirds will be pairing up and scouting for nesting sites soon!<\/strong> Eastern Bluebirds begin defining and defending their nesting territories earlier than other species \u2014 generally, starting the end of February, early March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Want Bluebirds to Choose Your Nest Box? <br><strong>Make it SAFE!<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>See our website&#8217;s <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/bluebird-nesting-boxes\/\" target=\"_blank\">Bluebird page<\/a> for more info, but if you&#8217;re one of the lucky, <em>lucky folks<\/em> who have Bluebirds grace their yard (we are truly envious!),<strong> here are are some quick tips:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list checklist\">\n<li><strong>Start with a clean, Sparrow-resistant box!<\/strong> As a good backyard bird host, you already know this: You need to start with a clean box and always clear between broods and after the last one of the season. If you haven&#8217;t already,  go do it NOW!!!  Bluebirds normally have 2-3 broods each season, so you&#8217;ll need to clear out the whole nest after each brood fledges.  <strong>A clean box will encourage re-nesting in the same location! <\/strong>Watch for increased activity and lots of chirping, then sudden quiet! That&#8217;s a good indication that the fledglings have left home and you need to get ready for the next brood.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sparrow-resistant boxes<\/strong> are critical to secure nesting Bluebirds from their main threat: The House Sparrow! We recommend <a href=\"http:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/?p=1752\">Slot Boxes<\/a> or the <a href=\"http:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/portfolio-items\/gilbertson-bluebird-nest-box\/\">Gilbertson Nest Box<\/a> as the most effective for deterring House Sparrows and <strong>dedicated monitoring is important.\u00a0<\/strong> For more info ask us at the store or see our web page &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/resources\/eliminate-house-sparrows\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">House Sparrows: Deadly Foreign Invaders<\/a>&#8220;.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Position boxes in open areas at least a hundred yards apart <\/strong>facing the openness of a yard, meadow or field.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Mount bird houses on poles with snake baffles<\/strong>. Even if you don&#8217;t regularly see snakes sneaking around in your yard.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Offer our freeze-dried meal worms<\/strong> in a separate feeder, <strong>away from all your other feeders\u00a0<\/strong> for an added incentive!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Although Eastern Bluebirds&#8217; actual egg laying and incubation begins later in the spring, the box a Bluebird pair chooses now will give them shelter from weather and predators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Other Bluebird Incentives: Offer the amenities, too.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While scouting for nesting sites, a Bluebird is also looking for <strong>abundant food<\/strong> and <strong>fresh, accessible water<\/strong>. You can increase your chances of hosting Bluebird families by adding these simple, extra incentives to your backyard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading water\">Water<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Keep your bird baths fresh and filled<\/strong>. Access to free-flowing water is critical for wild birds and your bird bath is another excellent way to tempt Bluebirds to your backyard. (If winter re-emerges and temperatures drop, keep your bird baths ice-free! See our <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wild-birds-winter-water\/\" target=\"_blank\">Winter, Water and Wild Birds<\/a> website page for help.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" src=\"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bluebirds-JennyHendershot-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Bluebirds gather around bird bath at Jenny Hendershot's house.\" class=\"wp-image-2970\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bluebirds-JennyHendershot-300x195.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bluebirds-JennyHendershot.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Photo by Jenny Hendershot\nJenny Hendershot, a member of the Maryland Bluebird Society, photographed these bluebirds during February at her home in Washington County.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading food\">Food<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Although Bluebirds mainly eat insects and fruit, they could possibly be tempted by your feeders filled with <strong>freeze-dried meal worms, sunflower chips and peanut pieces<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Other ways to support Eastern Bluebirds<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If there aren&#8217;t any Bluebirds scouting your backyard, there are many more ways you can help with their resurgence in Maryland! (See <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/?p=5313&amp;preview=true\" target=\"_blank\">our blog post<\/a> about where it all started.)&nbsp; Join our local <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mdbluebirdsociety.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Maryland Bluebird Society<\/a> .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Debi<\/strong> &amp; <strong>Mike<\/strong> and the <strong>Staff<\/strong> at <strong>The Backyard Naturalist<\/strong> are always happy to answer any questions to help enhance your Bluebird experience.<br>Debi has been a <strong>Bluebird Mentor<\/strong> for Montgomery County for 35 years!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/The-Backyard-Naturalist\/214435951041?ref=ts\" target=\"_blank\">Share your Bluebird sightings and photos<\/a> on our Facebook page! Keep us posted!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Get ready for Bluebirds! These early nesters are pairing up and beginning to scout for nesting sites now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":7433,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[162,593,594,595,596],"class_list":["post-7431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bluebirds","tag-eastern-bluebirds","tag-bluebird-boxes","tag-maryland-bluebird-society","tag-bluebird-mentor","tag-bluebird-resurgence"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7431"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12493,"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7431\/revisions\/12493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}