Blue birds and Bluebirds

Blue is the color of the open sea, a clear sky, distant ridges, and several of our most engaging birds. In contrast to the crow-sized blue jays, with jaunty crest and bold patterns of black and white, the other blue birds are all rather similar in size and more delicately hued.

Beginning around Mother’s Day, I usually receive reports of beautiful, solidly blue birds that have suddenly appeared at local bird feeders. These gems are almost always an indigo bunting or blue grosbeak, because they eat seeds. Both are migratory and arrive in April along with the migrating warblers. Indigo buntings aren’t much bigger than the warblers, and like them, feed in the treetops (in addition to visiting bird feeders). While watching warblers, keep an eye out for the indigos.

Indigo bunting males are completely iridescent blue, even on the belly.  Sometimes the darker feathers of the wings appear black. The indigo bunting is smaller than a titmouse and its bill is small and thin. The blue grosbeak is less common than the indigo bunting, but is also a completely blue seed-eater and sometimes visits feeders. It has two wide bars of brown on the wings. The blue grosbeak is about the size of a cardinal with a similarly thick, heavy bill.

Once in a blue moon, you might catch a glimpse of a sky-blue warbler. If so, you’ve spotted one of the rarities, a cerulean warbler. According to Dr. Jeff Llewellyn of Brevard College, they’ve been spotted at the Bull Gap overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway near the Folk Art Center, and the Siebenhellers of Brevard have found them near the Pink Beds at Buck Spring Trailhead on Route 276. Another warbler, the black-throated blue, is a common warbler in the southern Appalachian cove forests, but it is not particularly blue. Instead, its back is the grayish blue of steel, its belly is white, and its throat, face, and sides are black.

So what about the bluebirds? Bluebirds do not eat seeds and do not regularly visit feeders. They will sometimes perch in nearby trees as other birds busily feed, perhaps attracted by all the bird activity, and some folks put out mealworms for them. They eat mainly insects, but also include a few berries from plants such as dogwood, holly, and poke in their diets, especially in winter. Lucky for us, bluebirds are with us year round.

Bluebirds are also not completely blue. The belly is white and the breast is pinkish red. Females and young birds are slightly duller than the males, but similarly patterned in red, white, and blue. The males look most intensely colored as they fly away from you in the bright sunlight of midday. At twilight or on overcast days, they are not so dazzlingly colorful because the blue is not a pigment in the feathers but a structural color that originates from light striking minute particles in the feather.  The brighter the light, the more intense and striking is the color.  This interference effect, rather than blue-dyed feathers, accounts for the color of all our blue birds, not bluebirds alone. 

All of these blue-colored birds except the warblers are at home in meadows, orchards, and brushy edges of fields or large back yards. Buntings and Grosbeaks build open nests in bushes and shrubs. Bluebirds, however, are cavity nesters. Under natural conditions, they nest in hollow trees, but will also readily accept birdhouses that are the right size.

The absence of nesting sites and competition for those few sites with introduced species such as European starlings and English house sparrows have caused a decline in the bluebird population. The best way to help bluebirds is to place nest-boxes for them along the edges of open fields. Most hardware stores or feed-and-seeds sell bluebird boxes, but making your own box can be an enjoyable family affair. Be sure to follow the directions for the size of the entrance hole and the height the box is placed. (For details on construction and more on bluebirds, click.)  When you hang the box, please do not injure a living tree. Instead, use posts and poles as alternatives.

You can also help bluebirds by eliminating pesticides from your garden. Whatever chemical is on the insect will go directly into the belly of the baby birds as the parents stuff their growing young with grasshoppers, moths, and caterpillars.  The bluebirds act as a natural insect control. Finally, keeping your house cat indoors goes a long way toward helping all our native species including birds and chipmunks as well as being better for your cat!

Put out seeds for buntings and grosbeaks, hang up boxes for bluebirds, keep Fluffy indoors for everybody, and perhaps you will be lucky enough to attract these beautiful birds to your home. They’ll chase away the blues!

Text and images copyrighted 2003 by Jennifer Frick

Do not use without author's permission