Celebrating Bluebirds! by Myrna Pearman

This article is part of our "Ask Myrna" Backyard Bird Feeding Series

March means spring! While it will be mid-April before most migrating birds start showing up or moving through Saskatchewan, two notable species—Mountain and Eastern Bluebirds—usually appear as early as mid-March. Both species are strikingly beautiful and, as secondary cavity nesters, will take up residence in nestboxes.

If you live on an acreage or farm within the range of either of these species and can offer them suitable habitat (short grass areas with a few scattered trees), you might want to join in the efforts to help these species by setting out boxes for them.

If you would like to learn more, I have just written a book about them for the North American Bluebird Society (NABS). This book—Get to Know Bluebirds: A Guide for Young Nature Lovers—was written for young adults but is an interesting and engaging resource for everyone. It is available as a downloadable PDF from the NABS website: http://www.nabluebirdsociety.org/publications/ .

March represents the tail-end of winter, so it is important to keep your backyard bird feeding stations filled until the snow melts and the earth starts to reawaken. While the redpolls are still here, I suggest using Mother Nature’s® Medium Chips as well as Mother Nature’s® Finch Mix.

Myrna Pearman is the Resident Naturalist & Backyard Bird Feeding Expert for Mother Nature’s®. She is also a keen nature writer, photographer and author of several books, available from www.myrnapearman.com . She can be reached at myrna@myrnapearman.com