By Staff
Ask any gardener or bird lover which bird they would most like to have living in their yard or garden. Their answer would be the bluebird.
I can't quite put my finger on it, but what is there about these little birds of blue?
Is it because they bring color, excitement and adventure to our lives, backyards or gardens?
I have often heard many bluebirders speak with relish about their luck in just having them around each spring.
I hear the wonder and amazement they have witnessed as they watch and tend their birds. With anticipation and child-like joy they hope to open their boxes and find the little eggs of light blue inside.
By just being able to watch the whole process, from nest building to the fledglings from start to finish each season, in each narration I'm drawn to and interested in every minute detail.
I can still see the pride reflecting in their eyes and hear it in their words.
Is it because we find nature so amazing, educational and entertaining? I think so.
Or is because they are so beautiful and eat many of the pesky bad insects?
Maybe it's because they seem to tolerate our protective intrusions into their daily lives, checking on their nest-building; next, the eggs; later, hopefully if all goes well, the baby birds or fledglings, a first and second brood; and collecting all the valuable details and information, not only for a national data base, but also enriching our lives along the way.
Thanks to the generous devotion of time and attention by all volunteer bluebirders everywhere, bluebirds are now on a healthy recovery. And what a promising future it is.
There was a time in the past century when bluebirds were in trouble. They had declined by an estimated 90 percent.
This doesn't mean the bluebirds are out of the woods yet, so to speak.
There are still challenges to face, such as competition for nesting sites, from house sparrows, house wrens, European starlings and tree swallows.
And, as if this isn't bad enough, toxic pesticides and herbicides have also taken a toll by contaminating their food sources, insects and berries.
I have one last thing to say.
By living in the city, my gardens will probably never be home to any bluebirds, and this saddens me.
I guess I will just have to enjoy bluebirds where I find them – in someone else's garden.
"I realized that if I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes."
– Charles Lindbergh
1902-1974