How to Attract Bluebirds to Your Yard

How to Attract Bluebirds to Your Yard – top tips that will make this easy.

 

How to Attract Bluebirds to Your Yard

 

How to Attract Bluebirds

Bluebirds can be found in just about every corner of the USA. And with the right steps, you can get these bad boys to play in your yard in no time.

While it may be fairly easy to attract bluebirds to your yard, not everyone would have success getting them to nest. This includes folks staying in woody or shrubby areas, and cities too.

But if having bluebirds eating in your backyard is all you can get, what’s there to lose? You’ll enjoy the sight of these beautiful creatures frolicking or feasting anyway.

So, let’s get to it right away.

 

How to attract bluebirds depending on location

Quick reminder: there are three different species of bluebirds in North America: Eastern, Mountain, and Western bluebird. And which one you’ll attract to your yard depends on your location. My personal favorite is the mountain bluebird though.

Now, let’s attract bluebirds.

 

Serve What They’ll Eat – How to Attract Bluebirds to Your Yard

Bluebirds aren’t moved by the seeds served at most feeding stations. So, if you’ve been trying nyjer, safflower, and the likes, you won’t find them coming in groves.

 

What kind of food will attract bluebirds?

Call them exotic, but they feed mostly on insects and berries, as they do in the wild.

 

 

However, serving mealworms at your feeder would make an irresistible buffet. Still, you may have to train them to gobble down these larvae as a staple.

Plus, live mealworms are expensive, and maybe even irritable to some folks. To prevent waste, don’t put them out until you’re sure bluebirds are around the corner.

Aside from mealworms, you can also serve fruits, such as berries. Be sure to cut the fruit up into small pieces the birds can eat. They also enjoy suet, especially in the winter months for warmth.

By the way, prices online for mealworms seem to be better than getting them at pet stores.

 

Attract Bluebirds and their nests

 

Extra Tips for Feeding to attract bluebirds

For first-timers trying to attract bluebirds, try your hand at  serving mealworms in a small blue container close to where bluebirds perch or under a phone line. 

I now that might sound icky but if you want to attract bluebirds this is the key!

You can do it – juust don’t focus too much on their wiggling about or serve them up juts before you go to eat your own dinner – not a good idea at all! 

As they eat some, move the container closer and closer to your desired feeding station till they get used to it. A small step by step approach like this will not overwhelm them or frighten them off but will helps them build up a feeling of safety and security which is what you need when trying to attract bluebirds. 

 

How to Successfully Attract Bluebirds to Your Yard

The secret life of bluebirds

 

 

 These really are such fascinating and interesting creatures.

If you want to know how to attract bluebirds it is really important to understand them. and this short video will give you a really great insight and able you to attract bluebirds much more easily as a result of knowing what it is that they want and need.

 

Type Of Feeder Matters Too to Attract Bluebirds

Regular bird feeders are naturally built to serve seeds.

Bluebirds, however, eat mealworms that would crawl out of this kind of feeder.  I know that sounds a bit yucky but if you want to attract bluebirds you have to feed them what you know that they will love. That is all there is to it so meal worms it is. Also, most feeders give large birds easy access to food.

Plus, cleaning can become difficult if fruits get stuck in the corners and rot away. Suet would also melt away.Nope a  regular feeder is juts not going to do for this precious and special little bird

 

You need a specialized feeder in order to attract bluebirds

With a specialized bluebird feeder, you won’t face any of these issues. Plus, you’d save a few bucks from preventing a mess as you attract bluebirds to a feeder that they are just going to love.

Not to mention they’ll keep out bully birds from eating the priced mealworms or scaring bluebirds away. Even better, you’ll save the birds from getting poached by raptors.

In short, try to get a durable bluebird feeder if you want to serve their treats. It will save you mess tiem and money and you are sure to attract more birds so it is well worthy of the effort.

 

How to Attract Bluebirds

 

Go Native On Trees And Plants –  & Attract Bluebirds

One of the first things you need to do if you want to attract any bird at all is to cultivate plants. But you have to think first about the plants they want and if actually it applies in all cases.

Mainly, bluebirds enjoy the open. They prefer grasslands, like open mowed lawns, meadows with only a few trees and shrubs.

Nonetheless, they’ll use a lone tree or dead wood around as a perch to survey their surroundings and oh my goodness what a photoo opportunity such perching brings. They really are the most attractive and photogenic of birds are bluebirds.

Providing such a perch really is crucial to know if you want to attract bluebirds to your yard. You need to provide them with simple but satisfying perching space and not overwhelm them with flowers and plants too. 

Again – well worth the effort. 

 

fruit trees attract bluebirds

 

More importantly, they’ll eat the fruits or insects if you have native plants. Remember how bluebirds are bug eaters? 

Well, this would turn your yard into a sanctuary with plenty of food they love in the wild and thus attract bluebirds. It won’t be long before your backyard will be filled with their blue hue and melodic tunes. This will make them super happy and they will keep on coming back for more. 

There are tons of berry-producing plants you can choose from, with dogwood being the favorite. Also, find a resource or nursery to research how well the plant would do in your area and if it’s invasive.

And actyally how gorgoeous to have a backyard filled with berries – think of all the pies and smoothies you can make form them – yes they will attract bluebirds but they will also filly your tummy with taste and nutrition. It is a win- win – win. 

Attract Bluebirds

 

How to Successfully Attract Bluebirds to Your Yard – Provide Shelter (Nest Boxes)

A nest box. Have you yet considered one of these for your garden / yard on you bluebird attracting quest?  This is the most common and effective way to attract bluebirds. But they may keep their distance from nest boxes for a few reasons:

• Bullying by sparrows and wrens
• Wrong installation of the birdhouse
• Closeness to busy bird feeders

After installation, there’s a high chance a house swallow would be the first occupant or evict a nesting would evict a nesting bluebird. If this happens, get rid of the swallows or they might even attack and even kill the bluebirds.

 

nest boxes may attract bluebirds

 

Bluebird houses should have a floor dimension of around 5.5″ x 5.5″ and 9″ depth. And should be placed about 4-10 feet above the ground.

But to deal with the bully birds, keep the hole to a 1.5″ x 2.25″ oval shape. Also, ensure the hole is at least 6″ above the floor of the house.

Having a birdhouse with these specifications makes the entrance hole too small for swallows and wrens to nest. In addition, the deep cavity keeps the bluebird out of the beak’s reach of the invaders.

If you’d like to keep the swallows, you can mount another box on the same post or a few feet away. But this can be tricky.

The only thing is, bluebirds are notoriously territorial and won’t nest within close reach of their mates.

If you’re desperate to have multiple bluebirds nesting on your property, install the birdhouses at least 100 yards apart. Sometimes, this may still not work if you don’t have a structure in between, like a house, blocking the view of the birdhouses.

 

Extra Tips To Attract Bluebirds Using Birdhouses

Position the entrance hole facing the east and away from the wind. This keeps clutches away from the heat of the sun, and, somehow, bluebirds prefer this setting.

Place a baffle on the post to prevent climbing predators, like cats and raccoons.

Craft a dark entrance hole around the birdhouse — to mimic a nesting cavity in the wild — if the birds aren’t coming around. But remove it once the nest is claimed, to deter competitors.

 

How to Successfully Attract Bluebirds to Your Yard

 

The Fountain Of Blue Waters to Attract Bluebirds to Your Yard

This is one of the most overlooked tricks to attract bluebirds. And it’s not hard to see why.

Aside from ignorance, many bird watchers just can’t deal with managing a birdbath. It has to be cleaned every other day, sanitized weekly or monthly depending on bird traffic, and the birds can really mess up the water.

With time you can get in the habit of cleaning regularly if you try. bluebirds need to drink every day to survive in the wild. This can prove more effective in bringing them to your yard than feeding foods they are unfamiliar with, at first.

Plus, when you do attract bluebirds you will find they are even more fun to watch when they frolic in a birdbath.

 

Tips To Attract Bluebirds With A Birdbath

Not to forget, try to make the birdbath running/flowing as bluebirds love this (many birds actually).

Also, install the bath about 15 feet from trees and shrubs where predators can hide. To attract Bluebirds and give the birds a feeling of safety, put up a t-shaped perch or pole close to the water source – should be no more than 6-7 feet tall.

Now you really should know all you need to know to attract bluebirds into your backyard

 

Attract bluebirds with poetry!

If all else failed you could always recite them a poem – about them. It would certainly be a literary and unusual way to attract bluebirds

 

The Bluebird by Emily Dickinson

Before you thought of spring,
Except as a surmise,
You see, God bless his suddenness,
A fellow in the skies
Of independent hues,
A little weather-worn,
Inspiriting habiliments
Of indigo and brown.

With specimens of song,
As if for you to choose,
Discretion in the interval,
With gay delays he goes
To some superior tree
Without a single leaf,
And shouts for joy to nobody
But his seraphic self!

 

Bluebird by Hilda Conkling

So happy the song he sings
On the apple-blossom bough!
Remembering how the sun
Melted the long winter snow.
He is the first to come,
He and his comrade robin,
In his heart joyful
Over returning Spring.
So happy the song he sings
On the apple-blossom bough!

 

How to Successfully Attract Bluebirds to Your Yard is a feature post