It’s that time again, the time when I keep my binoculars on the kitchen table. Don’t worry, I’m not keeping tabs on my existing neighbors. I’m trying to attract some new ones.
I’m on the lookout for bluebirds. It’s been a big year for other birds at my house. Along with the usual chickadees and cardinals, there have been robins and Alabama orioles wandering around the yard. A transient group of cedar waxwings made short work of the berries on my holly hedge. There are woodpeckers on the tree trunks, the occasional crane by the frog pond and a pair of doves on the eaves. I like them all. The crows are a bit hard to warm up to, but I figure they’re just trying to scrape together a little food and shelter like the rest of us.
A nesting pair of bluebirds, however, would be a coup. I saw a nice couple on the mailbox behind me on my walk yesterday and I’m hoping they will come to my yard and see what a wonderful place it would be to raise a family.
I have a perfectly lovely bluebird house for them to move into. My old one came down when our new fence went up, but this new one is clean and comfortable, completely new construction. The bluebirds could move in today and put their own stamp on the place.
I did my homework, too, determined to increase my odds of success. The house is hung five feet off the ground, facing a tree not more than 25 feet away so the baby bluebirds won’t have to wobble too far on their first little flight. Bluebirds eat berries and insects and I have that covered, but the website said that they really, really like mealworms. “Live mealworms are best,” the author said, “but they can be hard to care for over time.” I’ll bet. Now I suppose I’ll have to research the care and feeding of mealworms so they can be part of the care and feeding of my bluebirds.
If I get any. Even with all of the traditional amenities (You have to wonder how many bluebirds they polled.), bluebirds are unpredictable. My mother kept a fresh, clean bluebird house every year. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. One year they snubbed her and built their house in the end of a swing set pole in the yard next door, deciding, I guess, to try out an urban industrial design.
In the spirit of full bird host disclosure, I should mention that my yard does have its drawbacks. There are a couple of hawks that routinely rest in my trees, but that’s probably true of any neighborhood. A little extra vigilance, a shared neighborhood watch (I have my own binoculars), and things could work out just fine.
There are other annoying neighbors – squirrels and chipmunks and a bullfrog that goes into full throat croak at sunset – but when you get to know them, they make the place quirky and happy.
Supposedly, bluebirds bring their happiness with them. I keep a glass bluebird on my windowsill, a gift from my mother, who always did the same, as a reminder that happiness is as real a part of life as whatever dark and dreary piece of road you’re going through at the moment. Sometimes the bird stops and stays and sometimes you have to wait a little while longer. Sometimes it just takes patience…and maybe a pound of mealworms.
The Bluebird of Happiness. I have my binoculars at the ready.
