“The bluebird carries the sky on his back”
I just love this quote by Henry David Thoreau! The bluebird is such a bright, beautiful shade of blue and always seems to evoke a smile from me, even when I am feeling down. It’s as if he really carries the Carolina blue sky on his back. They have been a favorite bird of mine for years. I had seen them around our neighborhood for years before ever seeing one in my own backyard. I remember that day vividly! I was so excited that three of them had landed in my tree but they didn’t stick around long enough for me to get a picture of them. They would return every once in awhile but never with any regularity even though I put out mealworms for them. But finally during the spring of 2019 a pair of them decided to nest in my backyard. My husband put up a nice Bluebird nest box for them, they checked it out and decided to move in. The female got to work and started building her nest over the course of about 10-14 days, and I would sneak out while she was gone and check on her progress. One day while checking on her progress I discovered a bright blue egg, one more the next day and each day after that until there were 5 beautiful blue eggs in the nest. Then she would sit on the eggs while her mate brought her food. Sadly this nesting attempt ended after some animal destroyed the eggs. I don’t know if it was another bird or a snake or what but my heart broke. My bluebird pair tried again and again and luckily on their fourth attempt, they were successful! 4 beautiful little bluebirds fledged from the nest in August. Every once in a while I see young bluebirds in the backyard and wonder if it is the same ones that fledged not too long ago.
Male Eastern Bluebird
To me this little bird is the “bluebird of happiness.” I spent New Year’s Eve 2019 in the emergency room with my oldest daughter. She had been in extreme pain and we didn’t know what was causing it. So off to the ER we headed…spent 12 hours there. We were exhausted by the time we finally got a diagnosis and headed home at noon on New Year’s Day. As I headed to my car I was worried about what my first bird of the year would be. I didn’t want it to be some House Sparrow or crow I saw in the hospital parking lot. I almost tried walking to my car with my eyes closed! But I got lucky, no House Sparrows in my line of sight in the parking lot and no random Rock Pigeon or Mourning Dove on the power lines on the way home! I was rewarded with my first bird of 2020 being a beautiful, bright Eastern Bluebird! To me seeing such a happy, bright bird was a good sign or omen that, hopefully, 2020 is going to be a good year! As I hope it will be to those of you reading this post. Happy 2020 everyone!
