Attracting bluebirds to your yard is all about creating an inviting environment for these stunning birds. Like any songbird, they’re drawn to places that offer food, shelter, and water. However, there are specific strategies tailored to bluebirds that can increase your chances of spotting them in your backyard.
What Are Bluebirds
Bluebirds are a group of three distinct species found across North America. The eastern bluebird ranges from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, primarily east of the Rockies.
The mountain bluebird thrives in varied landscapes from Alaska to Central Mexico, particularly favoring higher elevations. Meanwhile, the western bluebird inhabits regions along the California coast, the Southwest, and west of the Rockies.
To attract bluebirds, start by offering the right kind of food in your bird feeders. While this might seem straightforward, choosing the appropriate food can significantly impact the birds you attract. Follow these tips to create a bluebird-friendly habitat in your yard.
Tips to Attract Bluebirds to Your Yard
1. Provide their favorite foods
Bluebirds primarily eat insects and fruits, so they’re not typically attracted to bird feeders with seeds. Instead, you can offer them live or freeze-dried mealworms, which are beetle larvae available at some pet stores.
You can place the mealworms in a hopper feeder shaped like a house with large holes for entry, or in a smooth, steep-sided dish placed on a deck railing or platform feeder to prevent them from escaping.
During nesting season, it’s important to limit the amount of mealworms offered to ensure baby bluebirds get a balanced diet. In addition to mealworms, bluebirds may also enjoy suet, peanut hearts, raisins, blueberries, and chopped apples.
2. Offer water
Bluebirds enjoy having access to water for drinking and bathing. While they primarily obtain water from their food, they also appreciate bird baths. Bathing helps them maintain clean feathers and stay cool in hot weather.
Bluebirds aren’t limited to bird baths; they’ll use recirculating streams or pond edges as long as the water isn’t too deep. Experts suggest keeping the water level in the basin at about an inch with clear views around it.
During colder months, heated bird baths can be beneficial. Regular cleaning of bird baths and feeders is essential to maintain bird health.
3. Planting Native Berry-Producing Plants
Encourage bluebirds to thrive in your area by diversifying their food sources throughout the year. Bluebirds typically feast on insects during warmer months but shift to berries and fruits in winter.
To support them during colder seasons, consider planting native berry-producing plants in your landscape. In the eastern regions, options like American bittersweet vine, staghorn sumac, and dogwoods are excellent choices for attracting bluebirds during winter.
Additionally, native trees such as black gum, Carolina cherry laurel, dogwoods, eastern red cedar, and American holly also provide berries that persist into winter, making them valuable additions to your landscaping efforts.
4. Leave Dead Trees
When it comes to our backyard spaces, we often aim for cleanliness and orderliness. However, it’s important to remember that nature thrives in some level of disorder. Consider leaving dying or dead trees in your yard as they serve as valuable habitat for bluebirds.
By keeping dead trees and branches, provided they’re not posing a safety risk, you’re providing essential nesting cavities for bluebirds. Additionally, other bird species like woodpeckers can create new nesting holes in these trees, which may later be utilized by bluebirds.
Furthermore, leaving old branches intact offers bluebirds convenient hunting perches. So, by embracing a bit of natural disorder, you’re actually supporting the wellbeing of bluebirds and other bird species in your backyard ecosystem.
5. Provide Nesting Materials
Bluebirds require specific materials to construct their nests. They typically use pine needles and grasses as the primary building materials, often lining the nest with finer grasses, hair, or feathers.
If your area lacks pine trees or grasses, you can help by providing alternative nesting materials. One easy way to do this is by placing pine straw or garden straw in a suet holder during the nesting season in your region.
6. Install a birdhouse
During late winter and early spring, bluebirds seek out nesting sites, often utilizing birdhouses. Bluebirds typically nest in cavities, so setting up a bird box in your yard could attract them during nesting season.
To effectively attract them, ensure the birdhouse is well-designed to meet their nesting requirements. The design, construction, mounting, and upkeep of the box are crucial.
The decline in natural habitats has led to a reliance on artificial nest boxes for bluebird conservation efforts.
Artificial nest boxes play a significant role in the recovery of bluebirds by providing suitable nesting sites. To determine the most suitable birdhouse style for bluebirds in your area.
7. Avoid using pesticides
To encourage bluebirds to stay nearby, it’s important to refrain from using pesticides in your garden or lawn. Pesticides diminish the availability of insects, a primary food source for bluebirds, forcing them to seek nourishment elsewhere.
Excessive use of insecticides drastically reduces the insect population that bluebirds rely on for sustenance, as well as harming native pollinators and other beneficial insects.
8. Provide a clear perch near open areas
Bluebirds rely on insects as a significant part of their diet, so they need open spaces to effectively catch them. They typically hunt by perching and scanning the ground for movement, then diving down to catch their prey.
To support this behavior, ensure there are open areas with scattered trees where they can perch. They may also utilize man-made structures like power lines, fence lines, and posts.
10. Keep cats away
Cats pose a significant danger to bluebirds, with research showing a high number of bluebird fatalities caused by them each year. If you have an outdoor cat, it’s best to keep them indoors to protect the birds.
If keeping the cat indoors isn’t feasible, consider using a brightly colored collar, which can alert birds to the cat’s presence and give them a chance to escape.
11. Mark your windows
Windows can be hazardous to bluebirds as they may mistake the reflection in the glass for real landscapes, leading to collisions. To prevent this, mark your windows to make them more visible to birds.
One effective method is using Feather Friendly dots on the outside of the glass. Additionally, if you have bird feeders, place them away from windows to reduce the risk of collisions.
If you have large picture windows, consider placing the feeder within 3 feet of the window to minimize the chance of collisions, or relocate the feeder to another side of the house away from large windows.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where’s the best place to put a bluebird feeder?
Bluebirds prefer sunny locations with ample open space nearby. They particularly enjoy nesting on the edges of large, well-maintained lawns free of pesticides. Avoid placing the feeder in deep shade or near the house’s windows to prevent bird collisions.
Which colors will attract bluebirds?
Bluebirds are naturally drawn to the color blue, possibly because it resembles their own plumage. While they have excellent color vision, they don’t exhibit specific color preferences beyond blue.
