Barn Swallow--Hirundo rustica

Male Barn Swallow perched on sign on private property in Huntington Beach.

I couldn't believe my luck when I stumbled upon a little group of swallows on private property in Huntington Beach. I asked if I could take some pictures and received permission. Despite the clouds and rain that day, the sun came out for several beautiful shots.


Barn Swallow on pipe. Notice the deeply forked tail. Easy to spot in flight.

The most noticeable thing about Barn Swallows is their deeply forked tail. They are dark blue and dark chestnut on their heads and back. Their chests and belly are a lighter buffy-rufous color. They have short, wide beaks perfect for catching insects as they fly low over water and fields. The female is similar to the male, but lighter in color.

Blowing in the Wind.

Barn Swallows are the most widespread swallow species in the world. They are present in Orange County in Spring and summer. I have noticed a few at other times of year. In North America, they breed throughout the United States and Canada and parts of Mexico. The only places Barn Swallows cannot be found are in Australia and Antarctica. With that many Barn Swallows all over the world, you might guess that there are several subspecies, and you would be right. There are six subspecies of Barn Swallows world-wide.

Barn Swallow singing on the No-Fishing Sign.

Barn Swallows tend to be seen flying low over water especially and sometimes over fields. They fly close to the ground or water with their short, wide bill open to catch their favorite food, insects. They catch them as they fly. Barn Swallows are very skilled fliers, swooping in and out along pathways at San Joaquin, and low over the water there and at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Mason Regional Park, Huntington Central Park, and any place with water including small lakes and ponds. You can recognize them by the metallic blue upper parts as the whiz by and the glimpse of the their trademark deeply forked tail. I have also seen them at Long Beach by the Catalina Express swooping along the surface of the water.

Barn Swallow on the nest in Huntington Beach. It is made of mud and grass.

Nests are open and made of mud, grass, animal hair, and feathers. The mud itself researchers say consists of sand, silt, and clay. You can see the little mouth fulls of mud stuck together with grass to form an open cup. (Sometimes they use old mud nests either of their own or another bird that builds a mud nest.) Like many Barn Swallow nests, the nest above is close to an overhang. They are also often build on ledges. Barn Swallows lay an average of about 5 eggs. The babies really get noisy when Mom or Dad returns with food. They stick their heads out and open their very large mouths. They don't want the parents to miss them. Barn Swallows have switched from nesting in caves to utilizing human structures including barns to build their nests in and on. Human dwellings have provided them with many nesting sites. They also build nests under docks. Parents remove fecal sacs for young nestlings, but older nestlings defecate over the side of the nest. So watch where you stand.

Cliff Swallow Nest for comparison--enclosed with a tunnel to the nest. Picture taken at the Lion Enclosure at the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

Barn Swallow Nest from You Tube.

Pairs form during Spring of each year. Repeat pairing are not unusual--especially among successful pairs. Females tend to pick males for symmetry of tails and wing, length of tail feathers, and color. Especially in North America, females like males with redder chests. Breeding season is May through August, though in Southern California, you may see them earlier. I have seen Barn Swallows nesting as early as late March.

Barn Swallow Male. Note the long, forked tail.

In a very interesting North American study (see references below), the chest feathers of barn swallows were darkened to the color of the darkest males in the area. Suddenly these little guys became popular. The researchers where surprised to discover that the male birds they had darkened had an increase in their testosterone levels. The extra attention really had an affect on these male swallows. They were definitely more successful in breeding.

Resting.

Like other birds, swallows sometimes have helpers. Barn Swallows are no different. They sometimes have birds who are not one of the mated pair who help defend the nest. These helpers are often male and evidently may have ulterior motives, because they may mate with the female on occasion as well. They do not help feed the offspring. The mated pair--mostly the female feed them the insects they catch in a pellet-like form. Immature Barn Swallow may assist in the feeding of nestling. (Read my post on Western Bluebird--Sialia mexicana to learn about Tree Swallows helping the Western Bluebird.) Tree Swallows are evidently pretty helpful. A nature center in Illinois put some orphaned Barn Swallows in a Tree Swallow nest and they raised them right along with their own.

Barn Swallows. Notice the short, wide beak, perfect for gathering insects as it swoops through the air.

Barn Swallows tend to nest together in colonies. Perhaps it is safety in numbers of perhaps a good nesting area is a popular one. They also like to sing together in pairs and as a group. They are a social kind of bird. You usually don't see one Barn Swallow, you see a large group.

Barn Swallow on the Ledge

Predators mostly target the nestlings. The predators are varied. From bullfrogs to owls. Hawks, Falcons, and Owls target the adult Barn Swallow as well, but their swift, skilled flight leaves many predators behind in the dust. They do form a helpful relationship with one raptor, the Osprey. They often nest near the Osprey who intimidates other predators due to sheer size. The Barn Swallows provide an early and loud warning system when there is danger afoot.

Barn Swallow on a No Fishing Sign from OC Birder Girl on Vimeo.

Most Barn Swallows live about 4 years with some exceptional individuals living twice as long. They will defend their nests against predators by mobbing species like Boat-tailed Grackles, Red-winged Black Birds, Snowy Egrets, Sharp-shinned Hawks, Loggerhead Shrikes, and others. These gregarious birds hang out together for protection and social interaction.

Two Barn Swallows on a light fixture.

When you are out birding in Spring and Summer, don't forget to watch low to the ground and water for the swift flying bird with the deeply forked tail. You may well see the Barn Swallow.

Front View of Male Barn Swallow

OC Birder Girl Links
Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve
Huntington Central Park


Mason Regional Park


San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary
Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve aka Newport Back Bay
Birding Hot Spots in Orange County, California



Black Phoebe--Sayornis nigricans

Loggerhead Shrike--Lanius ludovicianus

Osprey--Pandion haliaetus

Snowy Egret--Egretta thula



Western Bluebird--Sialia mexicana




External Links and Resources

All About Birds: Barn Swallow

Detailed article about Barn Swallows.

ANALYSIS OF MATERIALS IN CLIFF AND BARN SWALLOW NESTS: RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUD SELECTION AND NEST ARCHITECTURE

(Wilson Bulletin: Vol. 89, No. 4, October-December, 1977) These researchers got into the mud and figured out what was in it. Conclusions show the differences in mud may be related to the different types of nests built by Cliff and Barn Swallows.

Animal Diversity Web: Barn Swallow

Thorough article on the Barn Swallow. Lots of information.





Animal Planet's Wild Bird Guide: Barn Swallow

Short article. Awesome picture.

BioKids: Barn Swallow

Great article for kids and adults.

BirdWeb: Barn Swallows

Good information from Seattle Audubon.






Chipperwood Bird Observatory: Barn Swallow

Great information and pictures from the Chipperwood Bird Observatory in Indiana.

Colonial Breeding in the Barn Swallow (Hirundo Rustica) and Its Adaptive Significance

Snapp explores the significance of colonial breeding in Barn Swallows. (Condor: Vol. 78, No. 4, July-August, 1976)

For Barn Swallows, Feathers Make the Man, says CU-Boulder study

Artificially dyed male Barn Swallows get boost in hormones just by looking good. Watch the video about the study here.

Cornell: Shades of Fidelity--Barn Swallow DNA study finds that when it comes to faithfulness, redder is better

By Rebecca J. Safran. She discusses her participation in a study of color and mate selection in North American Barn Swallows.

Helpers at the Nest in Barn Swallows

(Auk: Vol. 94, No. 3, July-September, 1977)

INTERFERENCE BY HOUSE SPARROWS IN NESTING ACTIVITIES OF BARN SWALLOWS

(Journal of Field Ornithology: Vol. 60, No. 3, Summer, 1989) Recorded instances of how those notorious House Sparrows interfere with Barn Swallow nests.

Internet Bird Collection

High quality videos.

Mobbing and other Interspecific Aggression by Barn Swallows

(Wilson Bulletin: Vol. 87, No. 1, January-March, 1975)

National Wildlife Federation: Barn Swallow Migration

Good article on Barn Swallow Migration.




Nature Works: Swallows

Good article on the swallows.

Nest Reciprocity in Eastern Phoebes and Barn Swallows

(Wilson Bulletin: Vol. 89, No. 4, October-December, 1977)

Tree Swallows as Foster Parents to Barn Swallows

(North American Bird Bander: Vol. 10, No. 1, January-March, 1985) I am beginning to think Tree Swallows are altruistic. They help Western Bluebirds and Barn Swallows. What a bird.

State of Washington: Living with Wildlife

USGS: Barn Swallow

Short, but good article.

NOTE: ALL Photographs are copyright Karen McQuade aka The OC Birder Girl. Unauthorized copying is prohibited.

Home - Index - Contact - Shop -


Ask the OC Birder Girl -



OC Birder Girl Videos

Great Horned Owl--Bubo virginianus

Great Horned Owl near the Huntington Central Park Library in Huntington Central Park in Huntington Beach looking back at me.
I was looking through my camera at a Great Horned Owl just before noon in Huntington Central Park over by the library. A lady passing by wanted to know what I was looking at. I pointed out the Great Horned Owl up in the tree. "How did you see that?" she asked. I replied, "I saw an unexpected dark spot in the branches, looked through my binoculars, and there he was." It was the middle of the day, and he was in a tree overlooking a field often seemingly alive with California Ground Squirrels. He appeared to be resting. When he saw me looking at him, he looked back with almost equal curiosity. He was well camouflaged, and I almost missed him. Both the color and barred pattern of their feathers blend in with the tree bark making Great Horned Owls very difficult to spot. Although they do have a small white bib under the chin, it is not enough to make them stand out. In the case of the Great Horned Owl I saw in Central Park, it was just the unexpected shape that made me double check to see what it was. I did not expect a Great Horned Owl since they are hard to spot in the day time.

Great Horned Owl--Courtesy US Fish and Wildlife--Photographer Ronald Laubenstein


I remember one time I was birding with my friend Gloria, and we saw what at first glance appeared to be a cat in a low tree. It turned out to be a Great Horned Owl. Some people call them the "cat owl," They do in some ways look very like a cat--especially the eyes and "ears." The "ears" are tufts of feathers and not ears at all. I have heard theories that the feathers help guide sound onto the facial disk and into the ears and that the ear-like feathers are camouflage to keep the Owl from being seen. The bird's actual ears are holes under the feathers on the side of its head. The ears are placed on the head asymmetrically so the owl can locate sounds more precisely. This is a distinct advantage at night in locating moving prey on the ground.

Presentation on the Great Horned Owl from Cascades Raptor Center in Eugene, Oregon

Great Horned Owls begin hunting at dusk and continue all night long. You may see them just before sunset and near dawn. They hunt by sound, locating prey precisely using their asymmetrical ears, and by sight with their enormous yellow eyes. The must turn their head to see rather than move their eyes because their eyes are so large that there is no room left over for muscles to move their eyes. They have no significant sense of smell. Sometimes they come out during the day, but the harassment from crows and hawks can easily drive them under cover. Sometimes they are found by other birds while sleeping and harassed or "mobbed" out of the area. They often share territory with diurnal birds of prey like the Red-tailed Hawk. The Red-tail has the day shift and the Great Horned Owl has the night shift. In areas with no diurnal predator, they may come out earlier in the day.




"Click" an owl at Wildbirds Unlimited, Huntington Beach brought there by South Bay Wildlife Rehab. Giving me the eye.

Great Horned Owls are large--about two feet tall. Like many raptors, the female is larger than the male. They weigh between 3-4 pounds and have a wingspan of between 3-5 feet. They hunt from perches or fly low along the ground to catch prey. On occasion, they actually walk along the ground to hunt prey. Their biggest asset is surprise which they usually can accomplish with specialized feathers that make their flight virtually silent.



Great Horned Owl in the Orange County Zoo in Irvine Regional Park in Orange, California . His "ears" are laid back. The "ears" are actually tufts of feathers. Check out those feet. Very powerful talons.

Great Horned Owls, like all raptors, grasp and kill their prey with their large talons. The prey has little chance. Armed as they are, a Great Horned Owl's greatest enemy is another Great Horned Owl. They eat rabbits, hares, gophers, other rodents, skunks, raccoons, bats, Great Blue Herons, Red-tailed Hawks, turkeys, geese, ducks, and other birds large and small, reptiles, frogs, and even insects like crickets and worms. They pretty much eat whatever they catch including domestic animals and pets. They are the only animal which regularly eats skunks.


Click, the Great Horned Owl.

Great Horned Owls are so strong that they are able to kill and carry prey that weighs up to three times their own body weight. Small prey is swallowed whole like we swallow popcorn. Larger prey is taken to a perch or safe area. There,the Great Horned Owl tears the prey into smaller size pieces with its hooked, black beak. Several hours after they eat, the owls regurgitate a large pellet of fur and bones and other indigestible animal parts. You can see what they ate by separating out the pieces in the pellet. Sometimes in places where owls have been roosting on a regular basis, you can see lots of pellets.

Short Great Horned Owl Documentary from Berwick Productions on YouTube

Great Horned Owls are found in most of North America. Their range covers all of the United States and then south through Central America and portions of South America. They live in arctic, desert, and tropical climates. They are generally nonmigratory except in the extreme northern regions. If you have forests, parks, or trees and grass near you, it is likely there are Great Horned Owls nearby. They live in remote areas like forests and in neighborhood parks. Great Horned Owls have been able to disperse widely in the Americas. They are one of the most common owls in North America.




Courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service-- Great Horned Owl Chick--Photographer Gary M. Stolz

Great Horned Owls make a variety of sounds from hoots, to screeching, to loud clicking or clacking. The most well known sound is the hoo-hoo sound that seems so mysterious late at night. The males have lower voices in general than females. Great Horned Owls make noise to find mates, to intimidate rivals, and unnerve prey.




"Click" a Great Horned Owl from South Bay Wildlife Rehab photographed at Wildbirds Unlimited, Huntington Beach. It was fun to shoot photos of all the raptors they brought that day. This owl was very impressive.

Owls live to about 13 years old in the wild and close to 30-40 years old in captivity. Captivity gives them food, shelter, and safety from the hazards of man. It is quite a bird.

A short interview with zookeeper and Olivia, a Great Horned Owl, at the Oakland Zoo.

Great Horned Owls are solitary creatures and mate for the breeding season. Afterward, the revert to their solitary ways. They are very poor nest builders and often recycle the nest of a crow, hawk, or eagle. In January and February they hoot and display to find mates, so listen and see if you can hear any Great Horned Owls in your neighborhood. The reason they nest early like many hawks do, is that Spring is a time of year where there is much prey to be had as other animals and birds raise young. That way the Great Horned Owl and other raptors have plenty of food for their own young.


Side View of "Click."

They lay between 2-5 eggs. Both male and female incubate the eggs and feed the young. The young jump from branch to branch until fully fledged and able to coordinate their movements. Young are covered in white down. No ear tufts are usually visible. I remember being on a field trip to Antelope Valley, and coming across two young Great Horned Owls with their parents at a pool in an agricultural field. They were jumping from branch to branch clumsily, but seemed on the point of learning to fly at any time. It was very cute. Great Horned Owls young stay with the adults until early fall. The parents are very protective and will attack animals or birds or even you if you approach too closely.

Click on his perch.

Don't forget to look carefully during the day when you are birding to see if you see a shape that just might be a resting Great Horned Owl. If there is a ruckus and crows and hawks are mobbing something, check and see if it is the Great Horned Owl. You never know, you just might see a Great Horned Owl yourself.

OC Birder Girl Links

Birding Hot Spots in Orange County, California

Huntington Central Park
Irvine Open Space Preserve Nature Center
Irvine Regional Park in Orange, California
Mason Regional Park
San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary
Tewinkle Park -- Costa Mesa
Barn Owl--Tyto alba


Red-Shouldered Hawk


Red-Tailed Hawk--Buteo jamaicensis




External Links and Resources


All About Birds: Great Horned Owl

Detailed article.




Animal Diversity Web: Great Horned Owl


Great profile full of information from the University of Michigan--student project.





BirdWeb: Great Horned Owl




Desert USA: Great Horned Owl

Very good article on Desert USA.




Great Plains Nature Center

Fun little article that urges people to get out and hoot on winter evenings to see if they have any owls.





Internet Bird Collection: Great Horned Owl

Very good quality videos of Great Horned Owls.





National Geographic: Great Horned Owl Profile

Great photos and facts.




Nature Works: Great Horned Owl

Good Article on the Great Horned Owl.



Orange County Zoo: Great Horned Owl

Short article. Fun page--Great Horned Owl sounds when you bring page up.




Oregon Zoo: Great Horned Owl

Good article.



The Owl Pages: Great Horned Owl

Good information and lots of sounds.



USGS: Great Horned Owl

Short, but good.









Home - Index - Contact - Shop - Ask the OC Birder Girl -

OC Birder Girl Videos

Western Bluebird--Sialia mexicana

This male Western Bluebird feels right at home in Mason Regional Park which has mixed trees and grass.

The Western Bluebird, as the name implies, is a western bird. Its range is from British Columbia south to Central Mexico. It goes no farther east than western Texas and western Montana. It is the least migratory bluebird, moving from upper to lower altitudes more than moving from north to south during the winter. So you might see Western Bluebirds up in Crestline or Arrowhead in the spring or summer, but more likely would see them at lower levels in the winter. If you are looking for a blue bird with an orange chest in Orange County, this is most likely the bird you are looking for.

Western Bluebird male perched on a picnic table at Mason Regional Park .

The male has very brilliant blue feathers on his head, back, and tail. His chest is an orange or bold chestnut color and his undertail coverts also have some chestnut coloring. There is a lighter blue on his stomach. The female is similar, but much duller in color. Western Bluebirds are part of a family of songbirds called thrushes. Thrushes are small or medium-sized songbirds that include the Varied Thrush, the American Robin, Eastern Bluebird, Mountain Bluebird, Townsend's Solitaire, Swainson's Thrush, and the Hermit Thrush. Western Bluebirds have a pleasant song. Nothing very fancy, but certainly a nice song to listen to as you walk through the open woodlands and forests this bluebird calls home. Unlike the Eastern and Mountain Bluebirds, the Western Bluebird's habitat is not primarily meadows or pastureland. It prefers a few trees. Open woodlands and even open coniferous forests are ideal. Thrushes often feed on the ground.

Western Bluebird on the grass looking for insects at Mason Regional Park .

It eats fruits, seeds, and insects. It will fly down from a perch to the ground for insects, sow bugs, or spiders, then return to a perch. They will eat insects such as ants, termites, and even insects as large as grasshoppers and crickets. Sometimes it almost seems like a flycatcher. I often spot a Western Bluebird when I see it flying down from the trees to the ground and back. Also will glean insects off the trees. They also eat berries from mistletoe plants, elderberry trees, and juniper trees and other fruits are part of their winter diet.

Western Bluebird in Mason Regional Park .

Western Bluebirds are secondary cavity nesters--which means they find either naturally occurring holes or those made by woodpeckers or nestboxes. They do not make the holes themselves. The mated pair often have helpers who are not the parents, but may be older offspring of the parents who help the parents care for the young. They nest about twice in during the breeding season and lay about 5 eggs each time. Western Bluebirds may also on occasion nest in something that approximates a tree cavity. Western Bluebirds on rare occasions have been observed nesting in crevices in tree bark, or in cavities in roof tiles, and attempting to nest in a mail box. These are unusual nest locations.

Western Bluebird at Irvine Regional Park in Orange, California

In a study made at the Corvalis Bluebird Trail in Oregon in the 1980's (Eltzroth and Robinson, Journal of Field Ornithology: Vol. 55, No. 2, Spring, 1984), several occasions of Violet Green Swallows assisting Western Bluebirds in caring for Western Bluebird nestlings by defending the nest against predators, removing fecal sacs, and feeding nestlings. The usual pattern was that a mated pair of Violet Green Swallows with a failed nest nearby began assisting a pair of Western Bluebirds in caring for their young. The study suggested that Violet Green Swallow pair might benefit by nesting in the box themselves and raising their own young after helping the Western Bluebird nestling fledge. In an area in which nesting cavities were limited, assisting the Western Bluebirds who already had a nest might provide Violet Green Swallows with the opportunity to be the next tenant with minimal competition.

Western Bluebird at Irvine Regional Park in Orange, California

Two the main competitors of Western and Eastern Bluebirds are aggressive, alien species from England. They were brought here by well-meaning, but ignorant people who wanted to see these familiar British species in the United States. In the 1890, 100 Starlings were introduced into Central Park by Eugene Schieffelin, a man taken with Shakespeare's reference to them in his writings. Starting in 1851 and for several years following, others did the same thing with House Sparrows (to be differentiated from House Finches--a native species). My English great-grandfather called them chippies. He recognized them right away as English Sparrows. No one realized the danger of invasive alien species at that time. The problem with European Starlings and House Sparrows is that both are cavity nesters and about the time they came over to our shores natural cavities for cavity nesters were in serious decline. Due to our removal of dead trees used by many species, clearing of land, and replacement of wood with metal in for fence posts and other construction, cavity nesters began to decline over time. The avian invaders swept the country from the Eastern United States to the West. First the Eastern Bluebird suffered decline and then the Western. As land development followed, so did decline. It was a serious problem for Bluebirds and cavity nesters of all kinds.

Western Bluebird box in Huntington Central Park.

In the late 1920's, Thomas E. Musselman of Quincy, Illinois began to build bluebird boxes. He invented the "bluebird trail"--a series of bluebird nesting boxes. He places the first bluebird trails along roads in his home county in Illinois. The idea spread. Soon there were thousands of nest boxes for Eastern Bluebirds set up in the eastern United States. In the late 1960's, Hubert W. Prescott of Portland, Oregon was similarly concerned with the Western Bluebirds in his area of Oregon. He was the moving force behind bluebird trails for the Western Bluebird in Oregon. The Portland Audubon Society maintains bluebird trails in the area currently.

Western Bluebird nesting box in Shipley Nature Center in Huntington Central Park.

The North American Bluebird Society was established in 1978. Perhaps it has caught on so much because this is a species that the average citizen can help by putting up a box or working with a group who maintains local bluebird trails in parks, golf courses, and other natural areas. Bluebird nestboxes do not have a perch which both Starlings and House Sparrows prefer. The Southern California Bluebird Club was established in Orange County through the efforts of birder Richard Purvis. They help thousands of Western Bluebirds fledge each year by building, installing, and maintaining Bluebird nestboxes. Purvis has invented "The Purvis Lifter" to make maintaining and cleaning his Purvis Nestbox easier. When Purvis started in the 1980s there were only 10 pairs of breeding Western Bluebirds in Orange County. In 2007, the group's nestboxes fledged 5,200 nestlings. At 80 years old, he is an active advocate for Western Bluebirds in Orange County and beyond. Birds and birders owe the Southern California Bluebird Club a lot.
Birding in Orange County is a lot more enjoyable because of their efforts.


Open Woodlands that Western Bluebirds like in Huntington Central Park.

Purvis is in the news again telling people about the dangers of Easter Grass for Western Bluebirds. The plastic grass gets wound around the chicks and choke them and can entangle the parent so that he or she cannot get out of the nest to get them food. Read the whole article from the OC Register here.

Western Bluebird from OC Birder Girl on Vimeo.

When you are out birding in Orange County during Spring or Summer, look for the bright blue bird flying down to the ground and back to its perch. You just may see the Western Bluebird. To make sure you do, check out these places where Western Bluebirds can be found in season:

Some places Western Bluebirds can be found in Orange County

Huntington Central Park

Irvine Regional Park

Laguna Niguel Regional Park

Mile Square Park

Mason Regional Park

O'Neill Regional Park

Peters Canyon Regional Park

Santiago Oaks Regional Park




The Aggressive House Sparrow. Introduced from England to the United States.




OC Birder Girl Links

Central Park in Huntington Beach


Irvine Regional Park in Orange, California

Mason Regional Park

Shipley Nature Center




European Starling. Aggressive cavity nester was imported by misguided Shakespeare fan to New York's Central Park in mid 1800's.


External Links and Resources




All About Birds: Western Bluebirds

Detailed article on the Western Bluebird.

All About Birds: European Starlings

All about an invasive species that threatens the Western and Eastern Bluebird.

All About Birds: House Sparrow

Another invasive species. The ubiquitous McDonald's bird.

American Bird Conservancy: Western Bluebird Reintroduction Project





Animal Diversity Web: Western Bluebird

Detailed article about the Western Bluebird.





Audubon at Home: How to Help Western Bluebirds

Advice on what Western Bluebirds need to survive in your backyard. What plants to grow, what food to offer in the feeder, nest boxes, and more.

Audubon Society of Omaha: History of the Bluebird Movement

Good history of the movement to protect Bluebirds and to provide nest boxes for them.

BirdWeb: Western Bluebird

Great article from the Seattle Audubon Society.

Birding Column: Mesmerized by Western Bluebirds

The Birdman of Bel Air talks about Western Bluebirds.

The Birds of North America Online Preview: Western Bluebirds

Helpful.

Bluebird-L Reference Guide

Reference guide for feeding bluebirds, maintaining nest boxes and more. Great site by Cornell Ornithology Lab, The North American Bluebird Society, and The Birdhouse Network.

Bluebirds of San Diego County

Our neighbors down south are active bluebird supporters.

Birdhouses Help Create a Bluebird Haven

Article about bluebirds and nestboxes in Orange County from Cindy McNatt of the OC Register.


California Bluebird Recovery Program

California organization that

Easter Fluff Kills Bluebirds

OC Register article on how our thoughtless Easter trash kills Western Bluebirds and other birds.

Internet Bird Collection: Western Bluebird





Los Angeles Times: A Hole Lotta Love for the Western Bluebird in O.C.

Newspaper article about the Southern California Bluebird Club and Dick Purvis.






North American Bluebird Society

National Bluebird Society.






Prescott Bluebird Recovery Project

Great site from Oregon about their Bluebird Recovery program.

Sialis

All about Bluebirds. Great site.

Southern California Bluebird Club

"Our mission is to preserve and protect the Western Bluebird and other cavity nesters in Southern CA." Check out their blog. See the details of the Purvis nestbox system here.







The Western Bluebird Survival Guide

State of Oregon guide to helping the Western Bluebird thrive.

USGS: Western Bluebird

Short, but helpful.

Violet-green Swallows Help Western Bluebirds at the Nest

Fascinating study of interspecies cooperation in raising of young. (Eltzroth and Robinson, Journal of Field Ornithology: Vol. 55, No. 2, Spring, 1984)






















Home - Index - Contact - Shop -


Ask the OC Birder Girl -



OC Birder Girl Videos