May 09, 1991 - Bluebirds Make an Official East End VisitCIO The Suffolk Times • May 9, 1991
Bluebirds Make an Official East End Visit
By Paul Stoutenbursih
I'm sitting in my car 200 feet from a
bluebird box and guess what? There's a
pair of bluebirds fighting to keep it
from being taken away by tree swal-
lows. When a good friend of mine told
me about this pair of bluebirds nesting
out on the East End, it didn't take Bar-
bara and me long to get a quick lunch
together, collect my photographic
equipment and a tattered old blind or
hyde, as the English call them, to pho-
tograph from. Sure enough, we found
the spot and the almost nesting blue-
birds. Seems other birds had the same
idea and there was a test of endurance
and strength going on.
As we watched from the car, a pair of
red - tailed hawks circled to the east. They
must have young by now and were tak-
ing advantage of a local thermal to
climb aloft, where they then would
glide off to their favorite hunting
ground. Rats, mice, voles, rabbits, and
other small animals, beware! For those
"hawk eyes," hunting is a deadly
business. What with more and more
land going out of farming and laying
idle, habitat for hawks has become
ideal. A pair is nesting in the woods
behind our home, and with the once
active potato farm now in brush and
weeds, the hawks spend much of their
time over this perfect hawk habitat.
Within a stone's throw of our car ele-
gant light blue and white birdfoot vio-
lets are growing. To me this violet is
one of our most beautiful, with its un-
usual "birdfoot" leaf that will later in-
vite me to capture it on film. In some
Focus on
Nature
spots the roadside is literally covered
with the light blue of this delicate vio-
let. It grows in such an unlikely place,
along the roadside, in the sandy soil
where mowers keep it down and the mo-
tion of passing cars help spread its seed.
It's been a long time since I've seen
bluebirds nesting on the East End.
Some years ago, I wrote about pho-
tographing a pair in upstate George-
town, N.Y. I'm not going to tell you
the exact location where today's blue-
birds are nesting here on the East End,
for we wouldn't want to crowd them out
with an over - enthusiastic public. What I
will tell you is that it is in the Pine
Barrens of East Hampton.
As I watch, the box is guarded by
both the male and female birds. They
don't go far from the box because if
they let their guard down for a mere
moment, it will be taken over by the
tree swallows that are competing for
this choice site. Both species are cavity
nesters, and seeing trees in the Pine Bar-
rens are small, suitable home sites are
hard to find.
Neither bird actually hollows out a
cavity with its bill. Instead, they leave
the hard work to the woodpeckers. After
the woodpecker's initial seasonal use,
the bluebirds take over the following
year. Of course, it doesn't have to be a
woodpecker's nest. A broken limb of a
hollow tree will do, but if the opening
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BLUEBIRDS NESTING AGAIN —The good news concerning New
York State's official bird is that each year more and more bluebirds are
being seen. This nesting bluebird was found in a man -made bird box
placed at the edge of a field in the Pine Barrens.
is too large, they might find themselves
in competition with the invading star-
ling or other cavity nesters such as
mice, flying squirrels, crested
flycatchers and others seeking sheltered
nesting holes. That's why it's so
critical when building bird boxes to
have the correct size hole for the
particular bird you have in mind.
Protecting Nesting Box
Right now, as I watch, four swallows
are swooping in and fluttering in front
of the box. Sitting on top are both the
male and female bluebirds making sure
the swallows do no more than fly by. If
their fluttering gets too close or one
should alight on the box, the bluebirds
immediately drive it off, then swing
back and hold the fort. When the swal-
lows leave for a while, the bluebirds of-
ten drop into the grass to feed on insects
or sing from the top of a nearby tree.
But let the swallows make an appear-
ance and they'll again be on the attack.
Actually most of the protecting is
done by the female bluebird, while the
male is off feeding or singing.
My first contact with bluebirds was
when I was very young and my Dad
gave me a bird box kit to build. I was
quite proud of it and nailed it up outside
my bedroom window on a tree a mere
five feet from the ground. That was as
high as I could reach. That was alright,
for most bluebirds nest in that general
range. My box attracted a bluebird that
raised' its young right in front of me.
Needless to say, I was hooked on bird
boxes from then on.
In those early days, bluebirds were
quite common and everyone talked
about "their bluebird." It was such a
beautiful bird and so plentiful and
became so popular that it was named
the state bird of New York, which it is
to this day. Of course, much has
happened to our environment since
those early days of innocence, so that
today seeing a bluebird has become a
rare and talked about sighting. But there
are encouraging signs. We are getting
more and more reports of bluebirds
nesting, particularly off Long Island.
Some have actually set up bluebird
trails, where boxes are placed at inter-
vals in hopes of attracting them. The ef-
fort is paying off, as the boxes I'm
watching now in East Hampton prove.
Let's hope it continues.
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