Activities
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Bluebirds Winter Photo One snowy Christmas morning, I had a pleasant surprise. I planted winterberry bushes just outside my living room windows. Their bright red berries are a cheerful splash of color in winter, when much of the garden is bare. It was snowing hard. The ground was covered with a 12 centimeter thick blanket of snow. The red berries on the bushes had attracted a small flock of cedar waxwings and bluebirds.
Female bluebird with a winterberry
Male Bluebird on a Winterberry bush For two days, the small flock feasted on the berries. Bluebirds and cedar waxwings have returned each winter. In a day or so, the berry covered bushes are bare. We have observed that the birds do not eat the berries until mid to late winter. I wonder why? The bushes have also attracted early returning robins and starlings.* I noticed that all the birds ignored the berries that fell to the ground. One cold, late spring day, I gathered the berries and placed them in a small feeder. I hung the feeder over the bare bushes. The berries were gone the next morning. Unfortunately, I missed seeing the birds take them.
*I shoo away the European Starlings whenever I see them. They are not native birds. They compete with bluebirds for food and nesting places.
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©2002 Cindy O'Hora All Rights Reserved, Updated 10/2008, Posted May 2002 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License. Aligned with the Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Science & Technology, Reading, Writing, Ecology & Environment, Mathematics |