Welcome Eastern Bluebird

Today I saw a lovely male Bluebird in my backyard. At first I thought he may be the Indigo Bunting or the male Blue Grosbeak-they both take up residence in the back branch every year and raise their young here. My excitement began to mount as I realized the blue was confined to his back and that he was too small to be a Blue-jay. Binoculars confirmed that I was indeed seeing a male Bluebird in his glorious spring garb!

I want to go right out and buy a Bluebird box and entice him to stay and nest on our property. My problem is we have a BIG snake problem here. I am always finding big black snakes in the nests of birds who try to raise their young on our land. Here is the link to last years snake story-it is not for the faint of heart-but is the true story of my experience and my justice toward that particular snake. If you want to have a Bluebird box-you must be prepared to put up a snake barrier of some kind-and you have to be sure the wrens don't pick holes in the Bluebirds eggs or attack their young. So having Bluebirds nest here involves some extra precautions and a lot of checking up on them. If you put a nest box up and do not police it you are just feeding the snakes. I am the kind of person who cries for days over baby birds that are killed by predators-so I am not sure what to do?

What do you think my friends? Should I risk a heartbreak like that? If we are careful though-we could add to the Bluebird population! The picture at the top left is of a fledgling Cardinal that had just left the nest-that I took in the spring of "09". If I get a picture of the Bluebird-I will post it.

God's creation-what a wonder to enjoy!