Sylph

Bluebirds are nesting in my yard here in Central Virginia, and their nestlings will be fledging any moment now. I can’t think of a better way to start this blog. The bluebirds are my sylphs, air spirits. I provide a nesting box and live mealworms for the adults and their young. And I have the privilege, in return, of watching these beautiful creatures go about their lives.

I took this picture near dusk. The pair were perched in a pine tree, and the male fed the female some goody he had. I remain touched by their pair bond. The male is a devoted mate and papa. He builds nests in different locations, and takes her to each one. She selects the one she prefers. He makes sure Mama has food, and he feeds the nestlings, too. After they have fledged, he actively feed them and shows them where to find food.

For three years I’ve had a nesting box in front of the house, and for three years bluebirds have used it to raise their families. I am fairly sure that I’ve had the same pair for the last two years, because they’ve laid their eggs far later than other bluebirds in the neighborhood. Or they may be offspring of one of the prior year’s broods.

I provide the box and buy and process several thousand live mealworms that I order from California because it’s a marvelous way to connect with the natural world here where I live at the foot of the gentle Shenandoah mountains, just outside Charlottesville, Virginia. When we moved into our house, it had just been built. There are more pines than hardwoods surrounding the house because the area was logged out years ago, and loblolly pines were planted between the hardwood stumps. Although the stumps have produced small clumps of “treelings,”, they aren’t tall enough or numerous enough to attract the variety of birds you find in a hardwood forest.

In short, the front yard was silent, birdless, during our first summer here. I missed the birdsong and activity. I set out a feeding station in front of my office window on the first floor of the house, where the cats and I can watch birds at the feeder. I put it out in late winter a few years ago, and watched, delighted, while the birds found their way to the new food supply. Word got out and their numbers increased, and I got to watch the transformation of the goldfinches and purple finches from winter drab to summer glory. The yard filled with birdsong.

I added suet feeders and watched the woodpeckers arrive. There are pileated woodpeckers in the hardwood forest behind us, but without good, decaying hardwood in the yard, I don’t see them close up.

Three years ago I read an article in the Washington Post, my hometown newspaper, about providing nesting boxes for bluebirds. It was early spring, and the article said I would need to set a box out soon in order to attract them during their “scouting” period. I had never seen a bluebird in or near the yard. I went outside to see where an appropriate place might be, and darned if a male bluebird didn’t show up in the yard, as if he had read my mind and was letting me know he’d appreciate a nice little piece of real estate.

And so it all began…

Tweet This Post