“There’s a bluebird on your windowsill, there’s a rainbow in your sky, there are happy thoughts your heart to fill, near enough to make you cry.”
As a child, my grandfather used to have me sing that song as I rode with him through the peach orchards in Palisade, Colo., as the just-fresh-picked peaches were loaded onto the little flatbed truck.
Then later, when I started taking piano lessons, one of the songs I played and sang was “Bluebird of Happines.”
“And when he sings to you, though you’re deep in blue, you will see a ray of light creep through.”
The little bluebirds were always flitting around Bambi, too. So how could you not love bluebirds, with so much press?
Fast forward to Redding; my real first personal encounter of the bluebird kind.
Living in Southern California most of my adult life and then Arizona, there just weren’t any bluebirds to be found. I couldn’t find them anywhere.
Then we moved to Redding. I wanted to have bluebirds in my backyard. I knew that, but that’s all the further my bluebird knowledge went. So I went to the web. What kind could I attract in Redding? Eastern? Mountain? Western?
I thought there was just one kind of bluebird, not a regional bluebird. I narrowed it down to the Western bluebird.
Now, what do I need? Well, according to the experts, I needed a certified bluebird house. OK, I bought that online. Then it needed to face east and be in an open area. Well, that was easy. We had just built a house and there wasn’t twig, plant or rock that was more than 2 feet tall.
So I staked out the blue bird house (on a 5-foot pole) and waited. And waited. And waited.
I did see a bluebird look interested, but then the people next door started building a pool, and there were more homes being built. Too much noise, so there went the bluebirds. We moved two years later and I started over. Same situation, new house, but this time, an established neighborhood and greenbelt across the street with lots of trees.
We planted plants, baby trees, tiny bushes and oh yes, a bluebird house. It faced east, approximately five to six feet off the ground. And it was “certified.”
And I waited. In the meantime, I bought a cute little birdhouse at Costco that also came with a cute little birdfeeder. I put it on the fence. Oh, and I found out that I could buy meal worms (a bluebird favorite) at Petco. I bought a little tub of those, put a few out on a little tray and waited.
The bluebirds came. They built a nest in the official BB Box and then, for some reason, abandoned it. However, they came back, built another nest in the unofficial Costco bird house and they have been coming back for four years. I’ve peeked at the eggs, peeked at the babies and waited until they took their first baby step/flight.
When the last fledgling has “flown the coup” I immediately take out the old bird nest, wash the little house and put it back up. In no time at all, they will build another nest and we’ll have another family in a few weeks.
The bluebirds have a lovely song – or bluebird talk – whatever it’s called. It sounds very melodic. When they hear the back door open they swoop down and wait for their treats. I’ve literally had them eat out of my hand, but that takes patience, and the feel of crawly little meal worms squirming about isn’t that enjoyable.
The bluebirds could eat the whole small tub of the meal worms at one sitting, but at about $7 for 500 tiny little worms, they are just a treat for my friends. I have a bird bath for water and bathing (one in the back garden and one by my front window).
Which takes me back to, “There’s a bluebird on my windowsill …”
