Create a Blue Bird Trail

The gentle & beautiful bluebird is a beneficial bird, eating many damaging insects like cutworms & grasshoppers. Today, the number of bluebirds has diminished due to habitat loss, overuse of pesticides and predators. Bluebirds can't excavate their own nest cavities and depend on either natural or manmade cavities for survival. Bluebirds will readily use a man-made Blue Bird House, and this may be our only hope of bringing the bluebird back to its original numbers.

Concerned citizens have created what is known as bluebird trails to help bring the bluebird back. You can help protect the bluebird and increase their numbers by creating your own bluebird trail. A bluebird trail is a series of bluebird nest boxes spaced about 300 feet apart. Bluebird trails can consist of just a few boxes in a large backyard to hundreds or even thousands of boxes put up over large areas or stretches of countryside. It is not necessary to have an entire bluebird trail to help. A single nest box appropriately placed can attract bluebirds to your backyard.

A good bluebird box should have a floor size of 5" x 5", the box height should be between 8 to 12", the entrance hole should be about 6 to 10" above the floor and the diameter of the entrance hole should be 1 1/2". Be sure your boxes are made of durable wood like cedar, have ventilation holes in the top and drainage holes in the bottom. Another good feature is an easy open front to check on the progress of the nesting birds without disturbing them.

Bluebird boxes can be mounted on poles, fence posts, utility poles or trees. Posts or poles are the best for providing protection from predators. When possible, face the boxes toward the next fence post so that the birds can look into the entrance hole from a perch. Mounting on trees is less desirable because of the threat of climbing predators like cats, raccoons, snakes and squirrels.

Ideally, your bluebird house should be mounted 4 - 5 feet above ground. There is no single compass direction that the bluebirds prefer to have the box facing. Your main objective should be to deter climbing predators, but allow for easy monitoring. Face the boxes away from prevailing winds. In hot climates, face them to the north or east to avoid direct midday sun. The most important aspect of mounting is to face the box toward some tree or shrub within 100 feet. When the young leave the nest they will make an initial flight to safety.

The most important part of any bluebird trail is to monitor the nest boxes. You should check each box at least once a week to be successful. Monitoring is important to keep house sparrows from using the bluebird box, checking on the health and safety of the bluebirds and recording their progress. When observing your bluebird boxes, go quickly and quietly to the nest box, open it and look inside. Contrary to popular belief, your presence will not make the adults abandon the nest. Remove any house sparrow nests. House sparrows are aggressive competitors for bluebird boxes and may even kill bluebirds to take the house. A bluebird nest is usually a neat grass cup. House sparrow nests are always sloppier than bluebird or swallow nests and contain grass strands and fibers haphazardly spread inside the box. When in doubt, the best way to determine if house sparrows have taken over is to simply observe their presence.

You can stop monitoring your nest box after the nestlings are 12 days or older. When in doubt, never open the box, you will be doing a great job just by observing their progress. The young bluebirds should fledge the nest within 16-23 days after hatching. Remove the nest after they have gone and throw away. Old nests left on the ground could attract predators. The mating bluebirds should begin building a new nest within one week. Clean out the boxes in late summer after the breeding season has ended and keep them up for winter roosting birds!

Bluebirds start looking for breeding nest boxes in February in the South and by mid March in the North. Bluebirds will use them well into August, producing 2-3 broods per year. Consider leaving your bluebird boxes up all year. When the mating season is over, birds will use the boxes as winter roosts.

Learn more about
Bluebird Houses

Shop our
Bluebird Houses

Offering a nest box is one of the best ways to attract a bluebird. Bluebirds nest in natural tree cavities and old woodpecker holes. When natural nesting sites are scarce, bluebirds will readily use nesting boxes built to correct dimensions. Mount your bluebird house on a fence post or pole, low to the ground no higher than 4-5'. Situate along woodland edges facing open land. Keep as far from human habitation as possible.

Whatever you do, make sure you place your nest boxes in good bluebird habitat. Not even the best bluebird house will attract bluebirds if it is in the wrong place. Here's some guidelines to follow for good bluebird habitat:

1. Bluebirds nest primarily in suburban and rural areas.
2. During breeding, bluebirds hunt insects by scanning the ground from a perch, spotting an insect, then swooping down to the ground to get it. Scattered young trees or shrubs, fence posts and lower branches of a lone mature tree make good hunting perches.
3. Sparse or low vegetation is also important since it enables the bluebirds to see and capture insects. Cut meadows, mowed lawns and grazed fields are good.
4. Nest boxes should be at least 100 feet from brushy or wooded areas where wrens are likely to be and preferably at least 1/4 mile from farmyards or barns where sparrows live.
5. Good areas for bluebird nest boxes include open fields, fence rows, orchards where no pesticides are used, cemeteries, large lawns, golf courses, public parks, along open highways that are kept mowed and pastures.
6. Mountain bluebirds will nest in open conifer woodlands and in the cliffs or clay banks of river beds.
7. Proper spacing of your nest boxes is important. Bluebirds are territorial when breeding and will claim territories of 2-3 acres. Research shows they will generally not nest closer than 100 yards from the next box.
8. To keep swallows out, pair boxes 5-15 feet apart. The swallows will only nest in one, leaving the other open for the bluebirds.

Bluebirds, like all insect eating birds, get thirsty! A birdbath is an excellent addition to your backyard. Plant scattered fruit and berry trees, mixed with open lawn and herbaceous flower beds to make an excellent habitat. Bluebirds enjoy the berries and fruits of dogwood, red cedar, sumac, bayberry, Virginia creeper, holly, blueberry, hackberry and elderberry.