Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis)

County List:

Rule:

Mixed Forested/Nonforested or Nonforested Landscapes

1st alternative:
      Grass
      or Savanna
      or Fields/Pastures
   containing:
      (Man-made Structures or Snags or Living Cavity Trees)
   adjacent to: 
      Edge

2nd alternative:
      Grass
      or Savanna
      or Fields/Pastures
   containing:
      (Perches and (Man-made Structures or Snags or Living Cavity Trees))

Habitat List:

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Literature:

Habitat: The Eastern Bluebird is a bird of semi-open country, rarely venturing into treeless or very wooded areas sometimes occupied by its western relatives. Open oak and pine woodlands are often preferred, but Atlas Habitat Survey data indicate high numbers in residential-roadside-hedge areas, old fields, pastures (especially in the southern Lower Peninsula), and in hayfields (in the Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula). Most studies suggest that, prior to European settlement, natural bluebird habitats were limited for forest edges and openings created by fires, storms, insects, disease, and other natural disasters. Abandoned woodpecker holes and natural cavities in dead trees provided nesting places. Post-settlement clearing of the forests created favorable conditions and resulted in a mosaic of acceptable modern habitats, including orchards, croplands, old fields, grazed pastures and, more recently golf courses and suburban lawns.

Bluebirds typically fill a nest cavity with dried grasses and rootlets before laying four to six eggs. In addition to providing nesting places, cavities are often used in winter and early spring for nocturnal roosting and thus are a critical habitat component year-round. Bluebirds frequently hunt from conspicuous perches for insects on the ground. Habitats containing short grass or bare ground are preferred to areas with tall weeds or thick shrubs. Foraging may be extremely opportunistic and at times insect prey may be obtained by aerial feeding (flycatching) or gleaning from the tops of large trees.

Habitat: Breeding: Open country with scattered trees (savannas), farmlands, open woods, swamps, sparsely inhabited residential areas, roadside fencelines, woodland edge beside fields and meadows, orchards, clearings created by fire, flood, or logging. Wintering: Graber and Graber found that bluebirds in Illinois favored grasslands, shrub areas, and forest edges in winter.

Special Habitat Requirements: Low cavities for nesting. Abundant perches for foraging.

Habitat: Open country with scattered trees; farms, roadsides. Breeds in many kinds of semi-open habitats, including cut-over or burned areas, forest clearings, farm country, open pine woods; locally in suburbs where there are extensive lawns and good nest sites. Wanders to other habitats in winter.

Diet: Mostly insects and berries. Feeds on a wide variety of insects, including crickets, grasshoppers, beetles; also spiders, earthworms, snails, rarely small lizards or tree frogs. Also eats many berries especially in winter.

Nest: Placed in cavity, typically in natural hollow in tree, in old woodpecker hole, or in birdhouse. Usually nests fairly low (2-20 feet above the ground), occasionally up to 50 feet. Nest in cavity is a loosely constructed cup of weeds, twigs, and dry grass, lined with finer grass, sometimes with animal hair or feathers.