Working in the cotton fields was very hot, dirty, hard labor, but one of its rewards was that of being close to nature. Little critters, such as grasshoppers, toads, lizards, June bugs, etc. were all there to be watched and studied. Even the “stinging worms,” which the cotton picker had to watch out for, could be interesting to inquiring young minds. Watching butterflies flitting about and bees buzzing in and out of flowers, wondering at busy ants carrying their heavy loads into their anthills, and observing the variety of flowering and nonflowering plants made the hard work less of a drudge. And birds were always around singing, waiting to be identified.
In Alabama, we had robins, blackbirds, Blue Jays, Orioles, various wrens, sparrows, and woodpeckers. We must have had cardinals, but having been taught a song about a redbird, I might have confused the title of the song for the name of the bird. Since my interest in birds has grown, I have become keenly aware of cardinals and I lure them to our feeders with sunflower seeds. My favorite of all birds to observe, however, is the eastern bluebird, which I don’t remember having seen as a child.
I enjoyed watching birds when I was in the cotton fields, but it was not until a few years ago, that bluebirds became so special to me. Due to a great fear that bluebirds were becoming extinct, a friend gave us plans for building a nesting box. We decided to join the efforts of bird lovers to help save the bluebird population. My husband has built many houses since that time, and we have been pleased to see several areas where landowners were influenced to install birdhouses on their fence posts along the highways. The joint effort has paid off with a decided increase in the number of eastern bluebirds. Now a great deal of my time in spring and summer is consumed with watching and helping my nests of bluebirds make it safely through to the fledgling stage and I have attempted to help even beyond that. Nature has a way of equipping bird parents with a strong instinct for protecting their young, however, and this has hindered my attempts to lure them into raising the babies near our home.
On one occasion when a nest was being vacated for a bigger and better home, I found a baby on the ground and realized that something had happened to it. As I picked it up, the parents angrily dove at me, but I took the baby into the house and worked with it for some time. My untrained eye could not determine how badly it was injured, but it was certain that it would not fly soon.
I had been placing grub worms in a special place for the parents to use for feeding the babies in the nest, so I placed the baby near the food source and retreated to a protected place to observe. To my delight, the parents used this opportunity to feed the ailing baby and continued to do so for a day or two. Eventually, the demand from the healthy birds called them away, or perhaps the natural instincts of the parents caused them to “abandon hope” for the bird’s survival. Whatever the reason for their abandonment, I was not ready to give up hope until I took it to a vet who told me that it could not possibly recover.
While the baby bird still had its strength, it would come two or three feet across the floor in response to my “bird talk”. I patted the floor with my hand as I talked to the baby bird, and it would come hopping toward me. This thrilled me greatly, but I would have been much more thrilled to have been able to see him fly into the woods to join his brothers and sisters.
My husband and I helped to launch our first family of bluebirds this year, and it was so exciting that I am digressing from my memories of the past to share our bluebirds with you.
First of all, there are three types of bluebirds, and they all exhibit many of the same characteristics. They are similar in body structure to a robin except they are much smaller, and their breast feathers vary in intensity of the same russet color as the robin.
The color of the mountain bluebird is a lighter, smoother blue than the other two. The western bluebird appears to be a more vivid blue color than the eastern bluebird, but they look very much alike. They feed on insects when available, but will also eat fruit from plants such as pokeweed, sumac, and dogwood.
Eastern bluebirds take readily to nesting boxes, and for this reason, people can get as acquainted with (and attached to) them as they wish. Excellent plans for boxes can be found in books at the library. It is important to pay strict attention to the features that protect them from predators and from nest stealers. One of the newest features is an extension placed around the opening which makes it harder for predators to reach the contents inside the box. A cylindrical baffle for snakes is also a new feature to us. ( I was particularly interested in this… I had once run barefoot from my back door to attack a big black snake that was climbing up to a nest full of baby birds!) The boxes don’t have to be fancy for the bird, but they don’t seem to mind if people want to paint them and pretty them up a little. Bill, my husband, has kept a journal for several years to record things of interest that occurred on specific dates. He has included our observations of the bluebirds, and it is amazing how nearly you can predict when you can expect of them with respect to time. In our home in West Virginia, we have seen them visiting nesting boxes as early as the middle of February, but the earliest that we have recorded actual nest building was March 27. Other recorded dates for building were March 28, 29, 30, and April first.
This year, we knew for sure that the couple was building on April first, after appearing to have chosen the blue box by the pear tree as early as March 19. The roof was hinged so that I was able to observe progress from the early stages of nest building through the flight of the babies from the nest. That nature has provided such a rapid, predictable progression of events is a testimony to me of a divine pattern that was laid out by our Creator at the beginning of time. I, for one, am grateful for the joys that I have been given by watching the eastern bluebird for many years!
Next time: a closer look at our 1998 bluebirds