My friends Jim and Virginia Sowell, who live in the Oak Grove section of Atlanta, wrote to say that they put up a new bluebird nest box last week after a flying squirrel had chewed up the old one. Immediately after the new box was erected, bluebirds were checking it out, Virginia said.
“I hope they move in,” she said.
Many folks all over Georgia, no doubt, are hoping for the same thing. Next to the ruby-throated hummingbird, which is due back from its tropical winter homes next month, the year-round Eastern bluebird probably is Georgia’s second most beloved bird.
February is bluebird month in Georgia, when the birds are checking out potential nesting sites and starting their long breeding season that lasts through September. Male bluebirds already are sporting their vibrant blue breeding plumage. (If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to clean out your bluebird box.)
With good weather, some bluebirds may be incubating eggs by the end of this month. By mid-March, nesting season may be in full swing. A pair of bluebirds may produce as many as three broods during the season.
A female bluebird builds a nest of grass or pine needles in a nest box or in a natural cavity in oaks and pines. She lays four to five light blue eggs and incubates them for 14 days. Both males and females feed the young, which fledge after about 18 days. Fledglings will associate with their parents in family groups for up to three weeks after fledging.
Homeowners make special efforts to attract bluebirds to their yards because of the birds’ brilliant plumage, their seeming tameness and their preference for nesting boxes. Their hearty appetite for insects also makes them one of our most beneficial songbird species.
I love bluebirds for one more reason: They are associated with hope and joy in folklore, literature and music, such as in the song “Bluebird of Happiness,” composed in 1934 by Sandor Harmati. “… remember this, life is no abyss/ Somewhere there’s a bluebird of happiness,” say the lyrics.
IN THE SKY: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer: The moon is in first quarter. Mercury and Mars are very low in the east just before sunrise. Venus rises in the east a few hours before sunrise. Venus and Mars will appear close together in the sky Thursday morning. Jupiter is high in the southwest at sunset.
Charles Seabrook can be reached at charles.seabrook@yahoo.com.
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