My bird watching is done in my back yard, and I have been told by alot of you that I'm in the best place for bird watching so I guess I'm lucky , this year I have seen black, grey, brown, green, red, yellow, and orange, but I have yet to see a blue bird, should I have blue birds in my yard? if so, what kind and how would I attract them here?

noemi
south texas

Noemi,

You probably won't see Bluebirds (with a capital "B") in south Texas; of the three species of Bluebird in the United States (Eastern, Western, and Mountain), none reach the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Bluebirds are actually members of the thrush family, along with the American Robin.

However, you may defnitely see "blue" birds - Indigo Buntings sometimes winter along part of the lower Texas Coast, and almost certainly some will migrate through your area. In the spring, the males are almost a solid bright blue, but in fall they become largely brownish with some tinges of blue still in the plumage.

You might also get Blue Grosbeaks, which breed throughout eastern Texas - they are a little bigger than an Indigo Bunting and have brown patches in the wings. However, they're likely already moving south (they winter in Mexico and Central America).

Finally, there's the rare chance you might get a Blue Bunting (similar to an Indigo, but much rarer and hard to distinguish at first) or a Varied Bunting (which is a kind of mottled blue/plum/rusty red bird).

In addition, there are some warblers with notable amounts of blue in the plumage, though none which are blue all over. As far as I know, they would all be strictly migrants in your area - check out Cerulean Warbler and Blue-winged Warbler in your field guide.

Kevin Morgan
Baton Rouge, LA

...and as if Blue Bunting, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Cerulean and Blue-winged Warblers aren't aren't good enough, I think there's also a possiblity of a hybrid Golden-winged Warbler(yeah, I know, not blue but a cool bird IMHO) as well...I am envious!

Ruth
Everett, WA
Zone 8

Ruth, in the east a lot of us see more hybrid Golden-wings than we see actual Golden-wings.

Indigo Buntings should be moving through South Texas in swarms now. The only problem, other than a bit of blue on the tail they are largely brown. I haven't seen a blue on nearly a month. The nice thing about male Blue Buntings is they stay blue all year.

Just how south are you in Texas? Are you more in the southeast, on or towards the gulf coast, or are you more to the southwest? From what I can see poking around at range maps on line, the breeding range of Eastern Bluebirds extends to the gulf coast in Texas. In winter, they can range even further south and a little more to the west, and even into northeastern Mexico.

Western Bluebirds winter along the Rio Grande in the southwestern parts of Texas, if I can believe the maps.

All of what I'm saying is based on published range maps, and I imagine that breeding Eastern Bluebirds are less common in southern Texas than they are further north. Whenever you get to the edges of published ranges, birds do tend to get less common. I'm in PA, so I would totally defer to an experienced Texas birder for your local area.

Anyway, depending on where you are in southern Texas, an Eastern Bluebird wouldn't be out of the question, especially in winter, and a Western Bluebird could easily be seen in parts of southwestern Texas.

Kristin, it appears that Noemi hasn't seen your question...I had to look a loooong ways back but I believe Noemi lives in Zapata. Our friends Gary and Natasha live in Harlingen.

http://tinyurl.com/yadhrgc


Ruth
Everett, WA
Zone 8

She is right by the Rio Grande, the land of Green and Brown Jays, Ringed and Green Kingfishers. I don't remember seeing E Bluebirds in her area on any trip there, but it wouldn't have been a target bird, so my memory isn't reliable.

Thanks, Ruth. I went back and looked at the range maps in Birds of North America Online and also read about the winter habitats of eastern and western bluebirds. According to that source, westerns winter along the Rio Grande in "pinon juniper, mesquite, oak and riparian woodland, coastal chaparral, and desert." Sounds like a possibility. The same source shows the Eastern Bluebird wintering along the Rio Grande but in "open forest, forest edge, pastures, orchards, and parklands." I'm not sure if that habitat exists there. From what Ward wrote, it sounds like Noemi's habitat might be more to the liking of Western Bluebirds.

As I mentioned before, I have no experience at all birding in that area, so I'm just working from range maps, and don't really know what I'm talking about in any kind of first hand observational way. Still, from what I can tell, it looks like either species of bluebird could be possible in Noemi's area in the winter or in migration.

Hi All,

Thanks for remembering us!

We have not been too active recently due to work concerns and apologize to all of you.

Moving on to the question of Bluebirds and the Lower RGV. Eastern Bluebirds CAN be seen down here but as with any bird species it does appear to be ad hoc - if you see one great but do not expect them to return yearly. We give as examples that in 2005 we were privvy to seeing circa 50 +/- American Goldfinches plus Lesser Goldfinches in our backyard. Since then - nada. 2007 Northern Cardinals in abundance (few since), 2008 Warblers of many variety, 2009 also an abundance of various warblers. This year we have witnessed fewer birds as a whole but a greater variety, many more warblers but fewer of the "lesser" welcomed birds.

2005 when I was playing/attempting to play golf was our first sighting of an Eastern Bluebird. Through to 2007 they could be spotted at the municipal golf course. That is the last time I/We saw one of them. As many have posted we are on the very edge of the ranges of the species but they can be seen:



Apologies for the poor quality of many of the pics but as you all know it CAN be hard to get a decent shot!

Gary and Natasha,
Harlingen, TX
Zone 9



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