Jeew, jeew, jeew.
Ever so softly spoken, that sound can be recognized anywhere. One might have to look a bit to see where it came from, but it is truly a happy sound and welcome in any season.
Often observed in back yards, woodlands, farmlands, upon fences, in parks, or in orchards in open grassy areas, this little thrush feeds upon insects or fruit and seeds. They are often in groups combing the area in search of food. As long as there is plenty of food available, they will not migrate.
Very social, yet territorial during the breeding season, they normally raise two to three clutches each season.
Adult male Eastern Bluebird
Boomer Lake Park, 2015
Nest construction is done in abandoned woodpecker holes, telephone poles, snags, dead limbs, or nest boxes with holes no larger than 1.5 inches in diameter. This can be done as early as late February. There should be an adequate perch near the residence, where the entrance should face east or south due to rain exposure in Oklahoma. It takes the female about ten days to build a small cup nest lined with grass, feathers, hair and stems, usually in March. Three to six or seven light blue or sometimes white eggs are laid, which take about two weeks to hatch.
Adult female Eastern Bluebird
Boomer Lake Park, 2015
Both parents raise the young insect protein and a few of the young birds may help to rear the second or possibly, third brood, as a cooperative breeder. Young are gray with a speckled breast.
A large portion of the young don't survive their first winter due to both starvation and the cold. They have plenty of predators including rodents, snakes, raptors, invasive birds, and the worst of all, the house cat.
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