Have You Seen a Bluebird This Winter
Have You Seen A
Bluebird This Winter?
There’s something about bluebirds that make otherwise normal people turn goofy and excitedly phone their bird-watching friends at the first sighting in spring, or when a pair sets up housekeeping in the backyard nesting box, or when a bright blue streak against the snow turns out to be a wintering bluebird.
Even in cold
climates about a third of the bluebirds don’t migrate to warmer climes in
winter and you may spy them feasting on the fruits of winterberries, Virginia
creeper, sumac, hackberry, and hawthorn. Providing fruiting shrubs is
important, but by late winter, natural food sources may be depleted. Bluebird
lovers take heart: there’s something we can do to help. These birds will visit
feeders with the right enticement, and with their habitat disappearing around
the world, they need all the help we can give.
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| National Gardening |
Tempting Food
Bluebirds’ beaks are not designed for cracking open the seeds in most birdseed
mixtures. But if you serve up shelled sunflower seeds, cheese, nuts, small
raisins, or suet, the birds may come to dine. Suet is easy to make, and this
recipe from the Massachusetts Bluebird Association is reported to be much to
the birds liking:
- Melt 1
cup lard or suet with 1 cup peanut butter (plain or crunchy)
- Add,
one at a time, 1 cup cornmeal, 3 cups oats, and 1 cup sugar.
- Chill the mixture in a pan, then cut into pieces that fit your feeder. Freeze extra
for later.
A Tempting Feeder
Offering food in a feeder that resembles a nesting box is another way to
attract wintering bluebirds. One recommended design is an enclosed hopper type,
with a hole at each end for the birds to enter. Some people have actually
trained bluebirds to come to these feeders when they whistle or call.
A Wintry Home
Bluebirds also need shelter from the wind and cold. Generic roosting boxes are
available, but bluebirds don’t use the perches common to most designs because
they sleep in a huddle on the floor. Summer nesting boxes suit them better, so
leave the boxes up year-round, and cover any large ventilation holes with foam
weatherstripping or some such material that can be easily removed in spring.
Since the birds like to peek into the house before entering, don’t seal it up
so tightly they can’t see inside.
So help your local
bluebirds make it through wintery weather. It’s the least we can do considering
they are sharing their native habitat with us.
From: The National
Gardening Association Learning Library
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