Eastern American Bluebird!
Our New York State Bird!

A Bird Once Almost GONE FOREVER! The Eastern Bluebird

Eastern Bluebird

• The Eastern Bluebird is a member of the thrush family, as is the robin. 
• Adult males are a dark blue color on their head, back, wings, and tail. They are a reddish-brown color on their chin and breast. Their belly is white.
• Adult females are a duller blueish-gray color on the head, dull brown on their back, and blue on the tail and wings.
  They are a light reddish-brown on the chin and breast. Their belly is white.
• The Eastern Bluebird is found throughout the Eastern U.S. and Southern Canada.
• Eastern Bluebirds in the north will remain as far north during the winter as they can as long as they can find food, water and shelter.
  The harder the winter, or the more scarce food, water, and shelter are, the further south they will migrate until winter breaks.
• Eastern Bluebirds generally return north to New York in early to mid-March.

Nest Box Location

• Bluebirds nest in open fields or orchards. They do not generally nest in cities or suburbs.
• Place the box in as open an area as possible with perches available; do not mount on trees or buildings.
• Keep away from the edge of woods as house wrens will fill them up with sticks.
• Mount the box 4 to 6 feet high on a metal pole. Download the pdf NYSBS Bluebird Nesting Boxes
• Place a guard on the pole to keep out raccoons, snakes and other potential predators. Download the pdf Predator Control on Nest Box Trail.    
• Try to face the box opening towards a tree or bush to give the fledglings something to fledge to up off the ground.
• Do not face the box opening INTO the prevailing wind direction.
• Place boxes 100 yards from each other to minimize bluebird territory overlap. This distance can be reduced if there are trees/shrubs/landscape that break up the line of sight between the boxes.
• Consider placing boxes in pairs, either back to back or within 4-6 feet of each other to encourage Tree Swallows and bluebirds to both nest. They will tolerate each other but not pairs of the same species.
• If you don’t get bluebirds in some boxes (or too many House Wrens) after a couple seasons, consider moving them to another more open location.

Nest Box Monitoring

• Try to monitor at least once a week. Keep accurate records each time you monitor
• Stop monitoring 12 days after the eggs hatch. The young *may* prematurely fledge (leave the nest) at this time
• Minimize your time at the nest, especially in wet/cold weather
• Tapping the side of the box may help flush out brooding parent
• Take note of eggs and nestlings and dates when laid, hatched, and fledged 
• Remove the nest after nestlings fledge to promote more nesting.
• Bluebirds will nest up to 3 times a season.
• Join the New York State Bluebird Society and/or the North America Bluebird Society. 
• Submitting your data will help monitors understand the bluebirds’ breeding success. Download the pdf Monitoring Bluebird Nest Boxes.
• Submit your nest box survey here.

Competing Species

Tree Swallows, Black Capped Chickadees, House Wrens and House Sparrows may attempt to nest in your box. The first three are tolerable. House Sparrows ARE NOT. Please do not let House Sparrows nest. If you let them breed, you are actually working AGAINST bluebirds and other native cavity-nesting birds.

• Tree Swallows: Mount a 2nd box on the same pole or on a pole 4-6 feet away.
  Tree Swallows will nest in one, bluebirds in the other.
• House Wrens: Move the box out in the open, away from the edge of the woods.
• House Sparrows: Keep removing their nests to deter them from nesting. 
  https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Sparrow/id

 
Don't let these invasive birds nest in your Bluebird box!

• House sparrows are an invasive species that aggressively compete with our native birds for food and nesting sites, often driving them out and causing significant harm to local ecosystems. Therefore, most experts recommend discouraging their presence. 
• Download the pdf Residential House Sparrow Advisory.

Find much more information at the New York State Bluebird Society! https://nysbs.org/

Did you construct and install your Bluebird house?

Congratulations!
Take photos of your installation, and we will post about your success here!

We don't have any photos yet.
Be the first to document a successful Bluebird homestead and win another box to expand your flock!
https://nestwatch.org/learn/all-about-birdhouses/

Now that you have your Bluebird home, you can become a Citizen Scientist!

What is NestWatch?

NestWatch is a monitoring program designed to track status and trends in the reproductive biology of birds, including when nesting occurs, number of eggs laid, how many eggs hatch, and how many hatchlings survive. Our database is intended to be used to study the current condition of breeding bird populations and how they may be changing over time as a result of climate change, habitat degradation and loss, expansion of urban areas, and the introduction of non-native plants and animals.

How Can You Help?

Participating in NestWatch is easy and just about anyone can do it, although children should always be accompanied by an adult when observing bird nests. Simply follow the directions on our website to become a certified NestWatcher, find a bird nest using our helpful tips, visit the nest every 3-4 days and record what you see, and then report this information on our website. You can also download the NestWatch Mobile App for iOS and Android and record what you see at the nest in real-time. Find more information and tips in our FAQs.

Your observations will be added to those of thousands of other NestWatchers in a continually growing database used by researchers to understand and study birds. Simply put, without your help it would be impossible to gather enough information to accurately monitor nesting birds around the world. And while you are contributing extremely valuable information to science, you will learn firsthand about birds and create a lifelong bond with the natural world.

https://nestwatch.org/about/overview/

More to come!