Bluebirds!

Our friends

A handsome male bluebird poses near our home.

“Our” bluebirds delight us almost year-round.

Some years, they’ve even stayed all winter, drinking from our heated bird bath and occasionally eating sunflower seeds.

A family of bluebirds savors the warmth of a heated bird bath during a January snowstorm.

But the gentle little members of the thrush family bring the most joy in spring, when they chortle softly around the yard and garden, and investigate nesting boxes we’ve erected in the prairie. In early April, I start peeking in once in awhile, hoping to see little blue eggs in a carefully woven nest of fine grass.

This spring, the birds once again came through. Two pairs laid eggs in our boxes – although with somewhat less fanfare than some other years. Were these birds a young, shy couple just beginning to figure out parenthood? Or mature birds wanting to keep a low profile?

Theee baby bluebirds almost ready to fledge from their nest box

Thus, I was pleasantly surprised to find eggs in two boxes where I hadn’t noticed much bluebird activity. And I was even more pleased a couple of weeks later to discover two clutches of scruffy little bluebirds about ready to fledge.

One box is clearly visible from my office window – but I wanted a closer view of the action

A baby bluebird begs for food from their father.

I grabbed a lawn chair and sat about 50 feet from the box while the adults flew to and from a nearby tree, twittering and coaxing their young to take their first flight.

A male bluebird joins his mate as they try to coax fledglings to leave their nest box.

A couple of the babies perched on branches just above my head, while one of the bolder chicks flew 75 yards to a grove of trees on the other side of our prairie. It was fun to listen to the parents’ soft whistles and chirrups of encouragement.

A baby bluebird rests on a branch after its first flight from a nest box.

We hope the family lingers around the garden, devouring the caterpillars that likely will appear to chew on the broccoli we’ve just planted!

A friendly female bluebird who we hope teaches her kids to like broccoli-eating caterpillars.

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