Spring brings flowers, bees, butterflies, and birds. It’s nesting season and we’re watching for the hatchlings, waiting with anticipation for the thrill of them becoming fledglings. It’s the most exciting time in nature, when everyone and everything explodes from winter hibernation, springing back to life.

As we busy ourselves getting our backyard bird oases ready for our feathered friends and their newest family members, let’s explore the world of the Eastern Bluebird.

Spotting Bluebirds: You can spot the male bluebird by the beautiful, vibrant royal blue on the bird’s back and head, and reddish-brown on his chest. The female bluebirds are a more grayish blue, a vibrant blue hue on their wing feathers.

Eastern Bluebirds are native to our area. They eat mostly insects, wild fruit, and berries, and will also eat suet and some nuts and seeds. Bluebirds love mealworms and will visit your feeder station if you put out cups of seed blend with mealworms. Our Bluebird Bugberry Blend® is the perfect blend for attracting bluebirds to your feeders. It’s full of all the things bluebirds need and enjoy: Bark Butter® Bits, dried mealworms, sunflower chips, peanut pieces, cranberries, raisins, and calcium. Cool fact: Eastern Bluebirds can live a long time. According to All About Birds, the known longest living bluebird lived to be over 10 years old.¹

 How to Attract Bluebirds with Food

If you have an open area in your yard, not tightly bordered by trees, you have a good chance of attracting bluebirds to a birdhouse/nesting box. It’s generally a good idea to put up a birdhouse before nesting season begins. However, it’s still early enough in the season that a bluebird pair may choose your box. Male bluebirds will bring nesting material to a box and fly in and out, waving their wings to attract a mate. Once they pair up, the female builds the nest and then cares for the eggs until they hatch. The role of the male bluebird is to bring the food to the female.

How to Provide a Safe Nest Box for Bluebirds

Bluebirds can have more than one brood in a season. The first brood may hatch and fledge early in the season, and then they’ll go off on their own. A later brood will hatch, fledge, but stay with their parents throughout the colder Fall and Winter seasons. Once Spring arrives, they’ll go out into nature and start their own families. Cool fact: Eastern Bluebirds are found along the east coast of the US from Maine down, and have been found as far south as Nicaragua. The bluebirds who live mainly in the northeast tend to lay more eggs.²

Spring is also a great time to do a thorough cleaning of all your feeders (we really should be cleaning them regularly, though). Take this opportunity to take them down and give them a really good cleanout. This video will help you ensure the feeders are clean and ready to be filled with our superior, fresh seed blends.

How to Properly Clean Your Seed Tube Bird Feeder

Need help with choosing the right houses and feeders for your backyard bird buddies? Stop in and let our friendly and knowledgeable staff help you design the right bird habitat for your backyard. Know what you want? Short on time? Click on the Shop Online button at the top and let us do the shopping for you. Choose in-store pickup and will have everything ready for you to just grab your bag and go!

You can find out more about Eastern Bluebirds and all the other birds that visit your backyard bird feeders from our partner, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

¹Eastern Bluebird, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, ©2025 Cornell University. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Bluebird/overview

²Ibid.

 

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