Perennial Bluebirds

At our previous home in south Florida, Eastern Bluebirds were rarely encountered. They depend upon tree cavities for nesting and face competition from introduced House Sparrows and European Starlings. Widespread development in southern Florida during the 20th Century resulted in loss of bluebird habitat, particularly pine forests. There have been a few attempts to reintroduce them, with limited success. They nest in the northern two-thirds of Florida as well as the eastern half of the US and southeastern Canada. 

Here in central Connecticut, bluebirds may be present all year round. It would be difficult to tell whether the individual winter birds are permanent residents or migrants from the north. Severe winters may drive them to move south and along the coast. Judging by their habits, I suspect that those which we saw last winter and those that are lingering into mid-November are the same birds that raised their families nearby. One or two family groups frequently visited our suet feeders, often foraged together and inspected the nest boxes.   

Cold, windy and wet weather and medical issues have kept me inside most of the past two weeks. I obtained these window shots of a male Eastern Bluebird at the suet feeder in early November:

This poor photo of a pair visiting a nest box was from about 80 feet (24 m) away through our permanently stained rear porthole window. The female, in flight,  has a gray head and less intense blue and red plumage:

In a stroke of good luck, several visited the nest box while I was outside and not far away:

These photos, also taken outside, are of bluebirds roosting in trees on the opposite side of the clear-cut, about 100 feet (30 m) distant:

From my high perch at the upstairs kitchen window, the early morning light and deep shadows presented an exposure challenge as I watched a flock of American Robins harvesting crabapples. Our bluebirds and robins are both members of the Thrush family (Turdidae):

Again from outside, a  highlight was this visitor from the north, a lone female Purple Finch which posed briefly in the shrubs:

A White-breasted Nuthatch peered out from behind a tree trunk:

Window shot of a female Northern Cardinal:

Sunset on November 15:

For my reflection meme, I retrieved this view of Mangroves in an estuary off Sanibel Island, Florida, October, 2015:

This week's header: November Sunset 

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Linking to:

Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

Garden Affair

All Seasons

Image-in-ing

Nature Notes

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Wild Bird Wednesday

My Corner of the World
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Please visit the links to all these posts to see some excellent photos on display
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