Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis)

Eastern bluebirds are small songbirds (7 in or 18 cm). Male birds have bright blue feathers, and female birds have light blue feathers. Georgia has a year round population of Eastern bluebirds. They breed from February through September. In the winter, Bluebirds that spent the spring and summer in the North stop here for the winter. The Southeast provides important winter habitat and food supplies for many birds.

Eastern bluebirds are commonly found in open habitats near the edge of forests. Fields and orchards are a good place to see them. You may see them perched on a fence or on a telephone wire overhead. They need trees where they can hide from predators and open spaces where they can catch their prey. Bluebirds feed on insects, caterpillars, earthworms, and fruit. Sometimes they can even capture frogs and lizards. This is pretty impressive, considering these animals may be about one-third (1/3) of the size of the bluebird! Bluebirds commonly forage by perching and looking at the ground for prey. When they see something, they fly down and grab the prey. Sometimes they will return to their perch with the prey and eat it there. Eastern bluebirds have predators, too. Snakes, hawks, raccoons, and cats are common predators of bluebirds.

During breeding season, both males and females may become very aggressive. They fight over mates and nest sites. Female birds sometimes kill other female birds during these fights. Using her bill, a female can peck another bird to death.

Bluebirds nest in cavities, and they like to use nest boxes. In fact, people have helped bluebirds by putting up nest boxes for their use. In the past 30 years, bluebird populations were declining. This is thought to be because of competition with non-native birds for nest cavities. Starlings and house sparrows, non-native birds, compete with bluebirds for nest cavities. However, now bluebird populations are increasing again. This is thought to be because of people putting up nest boxes for bluebirds to use.