My Bluebird of Happiness

About six years ago I installed a bluebird nesting box from Wild Birds Unlimited in my yard. I painted it in bright colors and waited for the cheerful little birdies to show up.

And I waited. And I waited some more. Periodically I'd clean out lizards, toads (really!), more wasp nests than I care to recall, and waited for its true owners to show up. But they never did and it was discouraging.

But this past week I was standing at my sink washing dishes when I saw a flash of blue through the window to the feeder in the back yard. I kept an eye open for that same blue flash and saw it again two days later, and looked it up in my Florida bird guide. Sure enough, it was a male Eastern Bluebird. 

Now that I knew I had a regular chow hound I stocked the feeder with more bluebird attracting food (thanks again, WBU) and was rewarded with regular sightings. He always flew off to the NW, the area of the yard where the nesting box was. This morning I was drinking my coffee with a bluebird companion breakfasting on worms, fruit and nut butter outside my back window, and when he flew off I carefully tracked his progress. There he was, perched atop my gaily painted nesting box, and then he ducked inside.

Since bluebirds return to nesting boxes they've used before, I'm encouraged that this little family has adopted us for the future. Not to take anything away from my yellow-rumped warblers, the ubiquitous cardinals and jays, the mourning doves that plant their butts in the feeder and settle in for a nosh, and the plain but songful Carolina wrens, but sharing my breakfast time with a bluebird makes me smile.

I hope your springtime is equally colorful, and that your life occasionally has a bluebird of happiness flying through.