| Eastern Bluebird
Habitat Requirements Summary Table |
| Habitat Component |
Habitat Requirements |
| Food - Young |
Small, tender insects at hatching.
Larger insects as maturity is reached. |
| Food - Adult |
Insects, especially grasshoppers, crickets,
katydids, and beetles; and earthworms, spiders, millipedes, centipedes,
sow bugs, and snails. |
| |
Fruits of dogwood, hawthorn, wild grape,
and sumac and hackberry seeds in the winter months. |
| |
Fruits such as blackberries, bayberries,
fruit of honeysuckle, Virginia creeper, red cedar, and pokeberries. |
| Nesting Cover |
Natural tree cavities, rotted stumps,
wooden fence posts or artificial nesting boxes located in or in close
proximity to open fields, roadsides, meadows, mowed yards, golf courses,
cemeteries, or farmlands. |
| Brood-Rearing Cover |
Same requirements as nesting cover.
Nestlings remain in the cavity/nest dependent on adult bluebirds until
fledging roughly 15 to 18 days after hatching. |
| Winter Cover |
Nest boxes, woodland edges, fence rows,
open fields, mowed yards, cemeteries, and farmlands where adequate ratios
of snags exist with open grassy areas, and fruit-bearing trees and shrubs
produce a food source. |
| Water |
Water requirements for bluebirds are
met through daily food intake. |
| Interspersion |
Prefer a complex of open, low-growing
grassy fields, either mown or growing freely, widely scattered trees,
berry-producing shrubs and vines, snags, and perches in the form of trees,
shrubs, utility wires, telephone poles, or fence posts. |
| Minimum Habitat Size |
100 yards or more is required between
two nesting cavities that are actively being used. |
