Birds of Central Oklahoma

All birds Thrushes and Allies

Eastern Bluebird, adult male
Adult male Photo by jeffcherry. CC0, via iNaturalist.

Eastern Bluebird

Sialia sialis

Here all year.

Recorded by Adam Dodson. CC BY-NC, via iNaturalist, trimmed and volume evened out.

Look for

  1. Males are deep blue on the head, back, wings, and tail.
  2. An orange-brown throat and chest, with a white belly.
  3. Females are paler. They have a blue-gray head and back and a dull orange chest.

A little about it

Bluebirds live here all year. When they aren't nesting, they wander the countryside in small flocks.

A bluebird sits on a low perch and watches the ground. When it spots a bug, it flutters down to grab it. It eats crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, and spiders. In winter, when bugs are hard to find, it eats lots of berries.

In Oklahoma, bluebirds may start nesting by mid-February. They use holes, like old woodpecker holes, wooden fence posts, and nest boxes. The female lays 2 to 7 pale blue eggs, most often 4. The babies leave the nest 17 to 21 days after they hatch. Sometimes young birds from an earlier nest help feed them.

In the past, bluebirds got much rarer in many places. They lost places to live and holes to nest in. Nest boxes have helped them come back. If you put one up, have it ready by mid-February.

Fun fact

A bluebird's blue comes from the way light hits the tiny shapes inside its feathers. So the same bird can look bright blue or dull, depending on the light.

When it's here

Taller bars mean more sightings. Most often seen in June.

How big

SparrowRobinCrowGoose

6 to 8 inches. Bigger than a sparrow, but smaller than a robin.

Where to look

Open, grassy places with a few trees, like farm fields and big lawns. Look for one sitting on a fence post or a low branch.

  • Fields and roadsides
  • Yards and parks

People have spotted it at Mitch Park, Arcadia Lake, Lake Stanley Draper.

Could it be something else?

  • Blue Jay

    Also blue, but much bigger, with a crest and a black necklace. It has no orange on its chest.

  • Indigo Bunting

    The male is dark blue in spring and summer. He's smaller than a bluebird and has no orange chest.

More photos

Eastern Bluebird, female
Female Photo by Rhododendrites. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Where these facts come from