Figure 1 – Eastern bluebird, Sudbury, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2017.

A few days ago, I posted about the Northern cardinal. So today I’d like to go to the other end of the spectrum and talk about the Eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis). It is again a thrill when they appear at my bird feeder in winter. This is because people talk about how hard they are to attract. But there they were this morning engorging themselves on the suet that I had put out. In a sense, they, like the cardinals, are a blast of spring color in the middle of winter. In contrast the American goldfinch takes on a dull winter coat.

Interestingly, if you look at the range of the Eastern bluebirds, you will see that the ones in my backyard have gone beyond what is usually thought of as their winter range – but just by a smidge.  Figure 1 is a side shot that I took and Figure 2 is a frontal image – that appears playfully to show a somewhat angry bird – anthropomorphizing again.

Figure 1 – Eastern bluebird, Sudbury, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2017.

Figure 1 – Canon T2i with EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens at 320 mm, ISO 1600 Aperture Priorty AE Mode, 1/125th sec at f/7.1 with -1 exposure compensation.

Figure 2 – Canon T2i with EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens at 300 mm, ISO 1600 Aperture Priorty AE Mode, 1/160th sec at f/7.1 with -1 exposure compensation.