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4:33 pm
July 15, 2011
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I'm just wondering how many of you have Bluebirds in your area? I am northeast of Boston (in Topsfield) and we've had nesting bluebirds for about ten years. We have had as many as three nest boxes along the field that abuts our lawn but now we're down to two. Swallows seem to always claim the second box. There were some years that we would find dead swallows in their box – killed by another bird, most likely English sparrows but we keep a close eye on the bluebird house and make sure no sparrows bother them. We haven't had many problems lately with sparrows thankfully. My husband feeds the bluebirds mealworms that he orders onliine and it's so much fun to watch them out there. Such pretty birds, I love watching them fly – they have this way of floating through the air. So fun watching them defend their house too! A big Robin decided he'd sit on top, boy, they didn't like that at all, haha! They swooped and twittered and scared that robin away. And they make the sweetest sound. Can identify them as we walk around by their soft bleeps. So, does anyone else have bluebirds in their yard???
10:28 pm
December 14, 2010
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They are quite common here in the rural areas. They seem to prefer open spaces. Their eyesight is excellant. I watched as one perched on a wire flew about thirty feet down to the lawn to grab a bug. Much like a cat dropping off a fence post onto a rabbit.
12:11 am
July 15, 2011
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Yes, they do like open spaces. We have a big lawn area and then a field beyond that. The houses are placed on the border of the lawn. There is an apple tree that the babies can fly to when they are ready to fledge. They're a lot of fun to watch catch bugs – like you say, they have good eyesight and can drop down quickly or they will often times flutter and catch bugs in mid-air! Amazing birds.
8:39 am
May 13, 2010
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South Central Michigan here, and many bluebirds to be found. After nearly a decade of not seeing many, I noticed more last year and have seen soooooo many this year. Very happy about that!
They are still using nest boxes that are dozens of years old..
1:29 pm
October 17, 2010
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In a small town near here, there is a bluebird house on top of a tall post right on someone's lot in the cemetery! And the bluebirds come there and build a nest every year. We spot them flitting around catching bugs whenever we go to that cemetery at Memorial Day time. I always think, what a nice tribute to someone who has passed away. Hope someone puts one on my lot when my time comes!
6:25 pm
April 1, 2009
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We have been enjoying the Bluebirds for well over a month now. There are several birds houses in our trees, but the ones they always come back to are round terra cotta houses.are . My Husband has several large feeders so we have so many birds and all different colors, blue birds, yellow finches, blue jays and cardinals. They are a joy to watch.
9:52 am
March 15, 2012
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Not where we live … we are on a semi-country road and, first of all, saw our first Bluebird in person some years back on a vacation to Virginia (we were on the Blue Ridge Parkway) – I joked at that time that we had to travel to Virginia to see a Bluebird! Then the time came that we had a few years when, once in awhile, we would see one ON OUR ROAD … when you first turn on to our road, it is just fields on both sides, before houses begin … and the bluebirds we saw were on the first part of the road. But now it has been years since we've seen them here on our road – I sure miss them as it was always a thrill to see one - they are one beautiful bird!
10:49 am
April 18, 2012
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Have them here in piedmont NC, they are so pretty! Love their reddish breasts and bright blue foliage! We see them often at our feeders and want to put up some nest boxes along the fenceline soon!
5:06 pm
January 9, 2011
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I have always noticed Bluebirds on our property. We've lived in our home for 20 years and evry fall I would see large flocks-sometimes what looked like 50 birds-congregating at the puddles on top of our covered swimming pool. The pool was torn down a few years ago but the Bluebirds are still here. I don't believe that they are using the nestboxes that we put up, but I trust they are nesting and raising there young in other places on our property. They are so beautiful.
9:39 pm
December 14, 2010
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While we are on the subject of birds we used to have bob white quail around here but now we just have houses. Forty years ago I saw a china pheasant walking up our road but I haven't seen one since. We used to have an ocassional skunk visit the place but I haven't even seen a road kill skunk in thirty years.
7:32 am
November 20, 2009
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We have nine nest boxes at the moment, all with the hole sized for bluebirds (one and a half inches). We have two pairs of bluebirds using boxes at the edge of the garden, I saw the first swallow yesterday and hope they will nest along the garden again too. Two of the nest boxes up on the hill at the edge of the trees have been taken over by flying squirrels, and a box has been claimed by chickadees. Don't know if there is anything in the other boxes. By the way folks the male hummingbirds are back here in Western West Virginia (the males always come first) so please do feed them, this stormy windy weather is hard on the tiny birds 
12:25 pm
April 18, 2012
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Wow Joyce! That is awesome that you have most of the nesting boxes occupied!
We are working to get some cedar bird houses put on every third post in our pasture fencing.
We have our hummingbird feeder out here in NC but haven't seen any hummingbirds yet!!
There is a nesting pair of eastern mountain bluebirds in one of the pecan trees. They are sooo pretty!
Speaking of birds, had the strangest thing happen yesterday. Found 3 dead wrens in our large cattle water trough yesterday. Then an hour after that another dead wren in the trough. It was quite strange.
8:32 am
March 28, 2012
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Does anyone have any suggestions or tried and true methods for attracting purple martins? i know i have the house and the height of its placement right but still no martins. i have read so many articles on the subject that i am on info overload. i live in west central wv. thanks
8:43 am
April 18, 2012
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Purple martins are sooo pretty! I asked a friend of mine who has a successful martin house with lots of occupants and she suggested this website: http://purplemartin.org/ She said you can look in the research category and there is a lot of info on how to attract them.
9:46 pm
July 15, 2011
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Oh dear, Littlebird! That IS odd, I can't imagine what happened. Strange that it was all wrens. As I had said before we have had dead swallows in our bluebird houses and we believe it was from English Sparrow attacks but I don't have any idea why four wrens would have died in your trough. Almost sounds like they were poisoned but I can't imagine why anyone would do that to a wren. I love my little wrens, they sound like sewing machines plugging away.
Ross, our area is getting built up too (we're considering moving to NH or Maine!) and we've lost quite a few birds. Like pheasant – used to watch the momma pheasant walk along the edge of the field with her little ones trailing behind, so cute!
12:23 pm
June 7, 2011
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Yes we do. We have about an acre of mowed grass bordered on three sides by woods and on the third by grassy/wetlands. I love to watch them. For a number of years, they liked to sit on the guide wires of our newly planted oak trees.
We put up houses for the blue birds but some other type of birds moved in. Not sure where the blue birds are living but I regularly see 6 or 7 at a time.
12:57 pm
September 2, 2008
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When my sister passed away in 2005, I moved a lot of her things to my house and yard. She had a decorative bird house in her porch and I hung it on mine. Every year since we have had bluebirds nest in the box and have at least 2 hatching a year. I even started buying worms for them. I feel like my sister is watching me, watching the beautiful birds !! I never heard of bluebirds so close to a house, but it brings me much comfort knowing that my sister and I still have a connection!
3:39 pm
July 15, 2011
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JeannieB, that is so touching! You are so fortunate to have them come so close. We have our chicken coop and pen right out the back window so when the bluebirds sit on top and survey the yard for bugs we get a pretty closeup view of them. So pretty! So far they have four eggs in their nestbox – this is early for them here which means we'll probably have another clutch before summer is over.
7:15 pm
July 15, 2011
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Well, I think I may have been over confident with the bluebird situation – we are so worried. We realized this morning that we hadn't seen the male and female bluebird all morning and sure enough, they haven't been there all day. There are five eggs in the nest, they look perfectly fine. But no parents… I'm so sad! I don't know what could have happened. There is no sign that the parents were killed by anything. They just disappeared! Has this happened to anyone else here?
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