Eastern Bluebird
Sialia sialis
Also called bluebird.
A thrush, and it hunts like one — perching on a low wire or post, watching the grass, and dropping onto insects. The blue is structural and can look grey in flat light.
- Size
- Sparrow-sized — 16–21 cm
- Bill
- Thin and pointed
- Where
- open field, yard
- Season
- year round, summer
What it looks like
Deep blue above with a rusty-orange throat and chest and a white belly. Females are greyer with blue confined to the wings and tail.
The checks that confirm it
- Blue above with an orange throat and chest and a clean white belly.
- Perches upright on wires and posts over open grass, then drops to the ground.
- Round-headed with a short thin bill.
- Females are much duller — grey-blue with a paler orange wash.
Voice
A soft musical 'chur-lee, chur-lee'.
Attracting it
Mealworms and a nest box with a 38 mm hole, mounted 1.5 m up facing open grass. The hole size matters — it excludes starlings.
Confused with
Entirely blue with no orange, and a thick conical seed-eating bill.
Far larger, crested, with black barring and no orange.
Questions about this bird
How do you identify a eastern bluebird?
Blue above with an orange throat and chest and a clean white belly. Perches upright on wires and posts over open grass, then drops to the ground.
What does a eastern bluebird sound like?
A soft musical 'chur-lee, chur-lee'.
How do you attract a eastern bluebird?
Mealworms and a nest box with a 38 mm hole, mounted 1.5 m up facing open grass. The hole size matters — it excludes starlings.