Friday, January 12, 2018

Bluebirds of happiness. . . . . . . . .


The past few days have been sunny and quite a bit warmer giving some respite
 from the bitterly cold we experienced earlier. Weather in the southeast is strange
 as to how it can change so rapidly. Today the barometer is already at 60F early
 in the morning, so different from the 10F reading at the beginning of this week.


We're not coddling the garden birds quite as much - no rows of seeds along the
 porch railing in addition to filling feeders and suet holders, no buckets of hot water
 being sloshed into the icy birdbaths several times a day.
They are managing fine, still singing in the bare fig tree and scuffling about in the
 leaf mold...........and now and then I'm able to get some unexpected photos such as
 these from a couple of days ago when of a pair of beautiful bluebirds arrived together
 for a few fleeting moments in the back garden.
These birds are non-migrators in the Carolinas, feeding mostly on insects and fruit, 
but also come to suet and seed feeders in winter months. 
Interesting fact - a pair will have two broods of 4-5 a year and the young from 
the first brood help raise the young of the second.

Eastern Bluebird: Sialia sialis

Easy to tell apart, the deeper blue of the male is somewhat faded in winter, and the
 more grayish female only ever has touches of pale blue on tail and wings, both have rusty
 red breasts and white bellies



To think this lovely bird was nearly eliminated from the Carolinas due to lack of
 natural nesting cavities as trees were felled and farmland built upon. However, with
 the aid of bird enthusiasts who put up thousands of bluebird boxes, they have made
 a remarkable comeback - thank goodness! 

"There's a bluebird on my shoulder" says the song, well not quite, but they do 
frequent my garden and that makes me happy.


8 comments:

  1. I love to read more about birds. These are lovely photos, Mary.

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  2. Love the Eastern Bluebird. Such a beautiful color. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Hi Mary :)
    Those are such beautiful birds and you captured them brilliantly! :) I have never seen a blue bird up here so thank you for sharing! We put feed out in the winter for the birds here too. They are okay in the summer, but winters can be tough for all critters so our hearts extend to them too. :)

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  4. We love bluebirds and put up bluebird houses where ever we live. We will be putting one up here soon. Beautiful photos. p.s. it has been warmer here too but two days straight of rain.

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  5. I was delighted to see the Bluebirds in your thumbnail pic in my sidebar just now. How I love and miss these beauties through the winter months. I'll certainly look forward to their return in late April. We are at 50F today with rain. Tomorrow will be a bit cooler with lots more rain then the cool down will begin late in the day. Back to freezing cold winter on Sunday but I think our snow will be pretty well gone by then! Hard to believe the weather can change so quickly but it does this every January and/or February. Wishing you a lovely weekend Mary. Keep cosy. xx Pam

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  6. Very pretty birds, and I don't know of any other family of birds where one generation of young helps bringing up the next.

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  7. the Eastern Bluebird is gorgeous! I love it. It's like an English Robin with blue back. Fascinating. Yes, they can come sit on my shoulder anytime....well, not long enough to poop, mind you. :)

    Oh and in case you didn't have "notifications" turned on, I did reply to your questions on blogger comments being slow to publish (Still are, even my last one to you) and mentioend info about Instagram. Hope that helps.
    https://dottyhill.blogspot.com/2018/01/some-picnic-today.html

    Thanks as always, dear Mary, for jsut being the most wonderful online presence and friend. AS an expat, you help me keep some sorely needed touch the old country. Funnily enough, Alex and I were jsut saying the other night (maybe Wednesday too?) that one day we'd love to go to NC and meet you and Bob. As it is, my youngest son's GF's Dad lives there now (near Charlotte) so who knows what the future holds.

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  8. Mary, you capture the sweetest images! Enjoy the weekend!

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