Bluebirds!

Forgive me for shouting, but WE HAVE BLUEBIRDS! Can you tell I am excited???

We saw our first bluebirds at Happy Acres this week. I had them for years at my old place across the river. They were there already on the old farmstead when I showed up in 1984, and their descendants were still there in 2007 when I packed up to move here. I saw countless generations of young bluebirds fledge from nesting boxes I had made out of rough-sawn cedar. They were my ever-present companions when I worked outside, as they perched on fence posts and tomato cages while waiting to swoop down and catch insects. Though not really noted for their songs, I still loved to listen to their chirps, gurgles and chortles. I left the new owners (and their two young boys) a bluebird book and some nest boxes in hopes they would carry on the tradition.

Here are some photos from 2006, which was a good year to photograph bluebirds:

bright blue male perched on shepherd’s hook

young bluebird with speckled breast, sitting on tomato cage waiting to be fed

older juvenile bluebird on roof

Here at HA, I just happened to be going by a window Thursday when I saw a flash of blue fly by. It was a small flock of about 4 bluebirds. I grabbed the camera and was able to get one out-of-focus shot of a male sitting on a shepherd’s hook right outside our kitchen door:

fuzzy photo of male bluebird

The point and shoot camera chose to focus on the background instead of the bluebird, which is one reason a new digital SLR is on our wish list for 2010. But the good news is that the bluebirds came back on Friday! This time I was able to get a little better photo of a female perched in the mulberry tree:

female bluebird in mulberry tree

I’ve got a couple of nesting boxes out for them, so I hope they were here to scout out future lodging arrangements. I knew when we moved here that it was prime bluebird habitat. There’s a small cemetery across the road that’s mowed weekly, and with our lot and our neighbor’s there are probably 3-4 acres of open ground here. I am keeping my fingers crossed they will stick around and feed on our nice juicy organic insects and berries.