Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana)

The Western Bluebird has a sky-blue back and russet chest and flanks. Or, as Florence Merriam Bailey wrote far more eloquently in 1890, in what many consider to be the first modern field guide, “note the cinnamon of his breast; and as he flies down and turns quickly to light on the fence post, see the cobalt-blue that flashes from his back. These colors are the poet’s signs that the bird’s sponsors are the earth and sky.”

Western Bluebirds don’t so much announce their presence as apologize for it with a hesitant, quavering kew, kew. They’re birds of open spaces, so look and listen for them year-round near fields, parks, pastures, and open woodlands—anyplace with junipers is a good bet. They’re also found in rural areas around Sisters at places such as Camp Polk Meadow and Camp Sherman.

Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides)

Mountain Bluebirds—the showier, all-blue bluebirds—are a bit more demonstrative, sometimes singing a song similar to that of a robin and other times warbling softly for minutes at a time. Listen to those notes out in the wild country of eastern Oregon, and you’ll understand what the “Bluebird of Happiness” lyrics are all about (“Life is sweet, tender and complete / When you find the bluebird of happiness”).

You can find powder-blue Mountain Bluebirds year-round perched on fence posts or atop junipers, or hovering over open fields. Keep an eye out for them when you head east from Bend on Highway 20, and when you visit more remote areas like Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge

Caring for Bluebirds

Actually, it’s worth watching for bluebirds wherever people put up nest boxes for them, including in and near urban areas. ONDA supporter Cal Elshoff has posted and monitored more than 80 of the boxes at Tetherow Golf Course in Bend, which is but one example of the lengths people go to in order to help these beautiful birds.

One of the challenges for bluebirds is that they’re losing habitat, including the standing dead trees, or snags, they depend on for nesting—the same trees often “salvaged” after fires. If you live within the birds’ range, you can help them out by leaving existing trees and snags (and planting new trees), putting up nest boxes, and providing food in the form of both seed feeders and suet cakes.

First, though, visit central and eastern Oregon to get inspired. Simply head out to wide open lands and watch for the distinctive flashes of blue and the songs that Merriam Bailey say suggest the “freedom of the wandering summer winds.”

You’ll be hooked on our wild public land, and on the bluebirds that call it home.