Western Bluebird

Sometimes it is a group effort to raise a young family of western bluebirds. At nesting time there can be other adults, male and female, who are observed to help to care for a brood of baby Western bluebirds.

Females lay 2 to 8 eggs and there will be 1 to 3 broods each season. Couples will appear to be monogamous but research has shown in up to 45 percent of  nests, there may be one or more young birds in the nest that may not be the offspring of the male who inhabits the nest.

In the spring and summer month,s western bluebirds avoid the hotter and drier regions in their range, and will live and breed in partially open areas of pine forests and other woodlands where they can hunt various insects close to and on the ground. During the winter months Western bluebirds live in deserts and pinyon juniper forests where they seek out berries. Western bluebirds will readily find nest boxes 1, 2 but they have to be built properly for these small birds. The All About Birds and Audubon websites can help birders build the correct size bird house.

Here in the Truckee Meadows, western bluebirds are seen in the foothill parks, like Caughlin Ranch and Galena Creek Park, on the western side of the Truckee Meadows where there are a combination of trees and open areas.