Yesterday afternoon, my wife announced that two bluebirds were in our backyard. Though she enjoys hiking, gardening and the study of astrophysics, she has never been an avid birder and, since I had never observed bluebirds in our modest sized Columbia yard over the past 14 years, I was more than skeptical. Nevertheless, once I managed to take a look, I saw that she was right.
Eastern bluebirds favor fields and farmlands with scattered trees and are often seen on fences or powerlines in open country. Such habitat is at least two miles from our suburban home and, though we receive an excellent variety of avian visitors, bluebirds had not been on that list. The two males that turned up yesterday were apparently surveying the area for berry shrubs and found one to their liking in the wild border at the back of our property.
Feasting primarily on insects during the warmer months, bluebirds switch to a berry diet in winter, when they often roam the countryside in sizable flocks. Yesterday's backyard sighting was both a reminder that birds often defy our expectations and an admonition that I should be less dubious of my wife's reports.
