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

Pileated Woodpeckers--A Family of Four

Winter is the most wonderful time to see woodpeckers.

The limbs are still bare of leaves and you can not only see the woodpeckers more easily but you can see the trunks of the old growth trees and the places where they have been foraging over time.  All those cracks and chips, loosened bark, chiseled holes, as they forage for their favorite food--carpenter ants.

In the above images and the next two below, you see the male of the pileated woodpecker family that visited my yard yesterday.  I was lured out the door not only by the familiar pileated call but by the whimpering sounds that often accompany two woodpeckers in a family, either a male with his mate or an adult with off-spring.  In this case it was both!

It is truly a fun surprise when you step out the door expecting a search, and instead, there are pileated woodpeckers all around you!  Two off-spring of the past nesting season accompanied their parents and were foraging near each other.  It took a minute of orienting to the direction of sounds compared to the two I visually located to realize that I had four woodpeckers, two to the west of where I stood, and two to the east.  They are busy birds.  By the time you've gotten into a good position to see one of them, they've decided to move to a different tree. Below you see the young female. She was distinguishable because her newly forming crest was still a bit bare in the back.  Don't you just love that look!

And below is her handsome brother with dark, fresh plumage that is striking.    

Pileated woodpeckers begin nesting in early April and hatch off-spring from mid April to the end of May in Tennessee.  Little is known about how long the young stay with their parents after fledging.  These juveniles would be approximately 9-10 months old in age. I observed the season's family together as late as March 21st in 2012.  In that observation there was one female off-spring with the adults (see link below) and courtship behavior had already begun.  Below you see the female adult.

And another view of the young female below.

She lingered longer than the rest of the family finding a comfortable branch for preening.  I ran out of battery power, went back into the house to get a fresh camera battery and came back to find her still relaxing on the same branch with her feathers fluffed.

A very satisfying visit!

Click here to see last year's family visit in March 2012 and another fun encounter in May 2009.

Visit Cornell for more information on the Pileated Woodpecker