The subtle bird song that you heard in last week’s puzzler was that of an Eastern Bluebird, Sialia sialis. Bird books describe the song as a musical chur-wi or tru-ly. The song consists of 3 or 4 gurgling notes and it isn’t unusual to hear the notes but not be able to see the bird.
Eastern Bluebirds belong to the thrush family and are cavity nesters though they will readily live in nesting boxes that are offered. As you can probably guess, they don’t excavate the holes themselves–they simply live in ones they find. Woodpecker holes are used by a LOT of other animals, including bluebirds.
Eastern Bluebirds typically raise 2 broods in the north and often 3 in the south. Females lay and incubate 4 -5 beautiful blue eggs.
Nesting boxes are often put up in pairs so that Swallows can use one and Bluebirds the other. Otherwise the Swallows often drive the Bluebirds out and Bluebirds are left without a place to suitable place to nest.
Want to see more? Check out this post from last summer featuring videos of parents feeding the young bluebirds. Or this post where you can go along with me to check some boxes I monitor.
Ready for our next puzzler? Puzzler #236 features an animal with lots of yellow legs. See if you know its identity.