By Gerry Wykes, September 8, 2011
Photo Credit: All photos by and copyright Gerald Wykes
Me thinks it was Henry David Thoreau who once said that the Bluebird “carries the sky on its back.” That is indeed an apt physical description of this intensely blue-backed bird which has come to represent all that is cheerful, sunny, and happy. No one wants the Starling of Sickness or the Fickle Flicker of Foul Play to perch upon their doorstep. Instead, it is the legendary Bluebird of Happiness that is expected to deliver those blue skies of spring and summer. It is best to be cautious about these things, however. These beautiful birds can also bear tidings of snow and cold gray skies upon their blue backs. A winter bluebird offers no more promise of spring than the Robin of Regret. The fact is, Robins overwinter and so do Bluebirds. The sight of a bluebird this time of year – in January – simply means “cloudy with a chance of flurries” but that is not a bad thing.
No matter what the season, the sight of these red, white and blue birds can never be considered a bad thing. It is safe to say that they are even more stunning when framed against a white winter landscape. I encountered a flock of these birds the other day in the winter landscape of the Petersburg Game area (a native wet-sand prairie habitat in Michigan’s southeasternmost County, Monroe.) It was cloudy with sporadic snow flurries that afternoon, but the birds added a welcome dash of color to it. There were about ten birds in the group and they all proved to be very timid. I bring you evidence of my encounter in the form of a few hard earned photos.
Male Eastern Bluebird
My sighting, though welcome, wasn’t especially remarkable. This past season, around 40 bluebirds were counted in one regional Christmas bird count. They are now a regular feature of these counts. Their numbers have increased over the past few decades due to conservation efforts and bluebird house projects, not to any change in winter conditions. It is has been estimated that as much as one-third of any given eastern bluebird population will overwinter in their North Country range. It is a risky ploy. During some winters, such as those of the late seventies, all or most of a wintering group of birds will not survive due to the effects of severe cold, exposure, and starvation. Bluebirds are meant to be blue from warmth, not blue from being frozen stiff.
All these winterers ask of their cold weather habitat is that it provides good cover and food. Cover wise, they will cluster into dense thickets to avoid chilling winds. Some birds have been recorded using bluebird houses as winter roosting sites during especially cold periods. In these cases a half dozen birds may huddle together within the cramped space – sharing warmth and possibly telling each other summer stories until the worst is past.
Throughout the warm season, these small thrushes are insect eaters. During the cold season they switch to fleshy fruits such as dogwood berries and rose hips. Sumac berries are an especially important late winter food. It was no accident that “my” little gang of blues spent most of their time in the smooth sumac thickets (like shown in the first photo) or in the wild rose tangles shown here.
Sialia sialis, the scientific name for the Eastern Bluebird
In these pictures, the male birds are easy to identify with their bright blue backs, ruddy chests and white bellies (see the second picture above). The Females possess a much more subtle coloration consisting of pale blue with a hint of redness (see below). I hate to call her dull. You never call a female dull because it is like referring to hip padding or slightly large thighs. Let’s just say she exhibits a “laid-back but assured look.”
O.K., we’ll leave it at that if it’s alright with you.
Bluebird déjà vu – Again
It was a case of déjà fu that shouldn’t have been – déjà vu, that is. I was at the Petersburg Game Area, it was in the middle of winter and I was looking at a flock of bluebirds. They were feeding among the sumac. Not only did it seem like I was here before, I really was here before.
Resilient and adaptable somber colored female Bluebird
The only problem with this scenario is that the birds were, for the most part, co-operating with the bumbling camera operator. They patiently mugged for the lens. They paused while feeding on sumac berries – one of their crucial winter foods – until my pseudo shutter sounded off. Both the somber colored females (see above) and the electric hued males (below) gave equally of their time. As a consequence, I took far too many shots. The only thing left to do was to knit them together into a brief slide show and put them to music (in this case a short guitar ditty I composed last year called “Winter bluebirds”. Take a look and listen; there’s a link at the end.)
The electric hued male Bluebird
It’s easy to like bluebirds even when mediocre images of them are put to bad music. Because of their beauty they are on nearly everyone’s list. They are not called BLUE birds for nothing. While technically it is true that their form of blue is a structural color and not a “real” one, it reflects a truly impressive band width of cerulean (that means that all color gets down to reflected light and sometimes it is un-necessary to think beyond that point. This is one of those times).
But one also needs to admire them for their toughness. They are resilient and adaptable birds that can laugh at the bitter winds of January and smirk at the deep freezes of February. A sizable number of Bluebirds overwinter every year. They are not a sign of spring, they are a sign of life on a gray January landscape.
You will rarely see just one bluebird during the cold season. It’s all about Bluebirds, with an emphasis on the plural. Like their relatives, the robins, they become very social when the snow flies. Seeds become their mainstay diet and puffing-up becomes their habit. Winter birds of all sorts puff out their feathers to trap in an insulating layer of air next of their tender skins. Bluebirds are no exception. Although summer bluebird pictures are fine, cold season photos always make them look more like pom-poms. For those who care about such things, the “aw, how cute” factor is increased ten-fold. I mean, look at that adorable photo of the poofy male bluebird shown above. Yes, birds that are on the precipice of frozen death are cuter than those lounging in the lap of mid-summer warmth. This factor does not extend to people who turn red faced and snot-drippy when on the precipice of their frozen death.
