Monday, March 11, 2013

Tennessee Conservationist--Bluebirds in Your Backyard

One of the most delightful birds to welcome into your yard's habitat, the Eastern Bluebird, is the subject of my recent article in the Tennessee Conservationist Magazine, "Bluebirds in Your Backyard."  
When I embarked on the mission of attracting bluebirds to my backyard, I had only a small idea of the enjoyment I would derive from my interactions and observations of this companionable bird and its nesting activities, including offering mealworms.  Monitoring a nestbox, watching bluebird behavior, and checking the progress of nestlings, from the appearance of eggs to the days after fledging, is an enriching journey into the natural world that will alter your appreciation for nature forever.
Bluebirds require all the basics--shelter, food and water--but the central ingredient to attracting bluebirds to your yard is the nestbox.  The article includes details of placing the nestbox and one type of predator guard that has been successful in keeping bluebird families safe from cats, raccoons and snakes in my yard throughout the nesting seasons.
Louise Zepp, editor of the Tennessee Conservationist Magazine, selected "Bluebirds in Your Backyard" as the feature article for the March/April issue to help celebrate bluebirds and promote bluebird conservation.

Links and Resources:

To visit my other TN Conservationists Magazine articles click here.

The Tennessee Conservationist website.

To see my bluebird posts on this blog visit:  Bluebird family

2 comments:

  1. Thank you! For the first time I may have a pair of bluebirds nesting in a birdhouse.
    It is the right size hole, but I wonder if it's too late to add the predator guard?
    They have been checking out the nest a lot lately so, I'm pretty sure they intend to use it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think the key would be to get the predator guard up before nest building begins, if possible. A friend asked me yesterday how the guard impacted the bird's selection of the nestbox. His thinking was that it made the entrance different than the natural nest hole. It doesn't appear to matter. They perch on top and look all around to check it out. In the end it doesn't seem to impact their selection of the box.

    Better to add the guard now than suffer the loss of the birds during breeding season,

    There are also baffles that you can add to the pole underneath that help prevent climbing mammals. But these will not stop a cat that can jump to the top and reach into the box.

    ReplyDelete

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