Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson XI · Topic 2: Bird study: birds to know
11. The bluebird
Goal: Your child can describe the bluebird's colors, song and nesting places, and say how people can help bluebirds with nesting boxes.
You'll need
- Binoculars
- Colored pencils (sky blue and rusty red)
- A bird book or app with bluebird pictures and song
- Nature notebook
What's in the book
The leading thought and method (individual field observation, then reading and a talk on nesting boxes), with thirteen questions comparing the bluebird with the robin and covering song, colors, feeding, nest, eggs, young, food, protection, winter home and enemies. A poem by Thomas Bailey Aldrich follows.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
Early spring through summer, in open country: farm fields, fence lines, golf courses, orchards and parks with scattered trees. Bluebirds often perch on wires and fence posts and drop to the ground for insects. Look for nesting boxes on posts; many parks put up bluebird trails. In the South they can be seen all year. Comstock says these observations must be made in the field.
Keep the big idea in mind
Read this to yourself:
The bluebird is related to the robins and thrushes and is as beneficial as it is beautiful. We should study its habits and learn how to make nesting boxes for it, and protect it in all ways.
Find a bluebird
Walk slowly along a field edge and scan the wires and posts.
Where were the bluebirds you saw? What were they doing? If feeding, how did they act?
Can you see the color of the bluebird as plainly when it is in a tree as when it is flying? If not, why?
Colors and song
Describe the colors of the bluebird as follows: The head, back, breast, under parts, wings, tail. How does the male bluebird differ from his mate in colors?
Describe the bluebirds' song. Do they sing all summer?
Robin and bluebird
Which comes North earlier in spring the robin or the bluebird?
How do the two resemble each other and differ from each other?
Nest and helping
Where do the bluebirds build their nests? Of what material are the nests made?
What can we do to induce the bluebirds to live near our houses? How can we protect them?
If you see a nest box, watch from a distance. Don't open it. Building a bluebird box is a good family project; an adult should do the sawing and drilling.
Put it into words
Ask your child to tell you how a bluebird is like a robin and how it is different. Then share the leading thought.
Nature notebook
This is Comstock's own question 12: "Make a colored picture of a bluebird." Draw the male, and the female beside him if you saw her.
Afterwards
Keep watching the same field or nest box through spring. Note the date you first see young bluebirds.
Tip
Comstock asks how to tell a bluebird from the indigo bunting. The bunting is blue all over; the bluebird has a rusty breast.