State Symbols

State Bird

Posted at October 19, 2006 15:27

MISSOURI’S state bird, the eastern bluebird, has been a state symbol since March 30, 1927. New York is the only other state to have the bluebird as its state bird. Members of the same family as robins, bluebirds are common in all of Missouri except the Bootheel and are noted for their singing.

During warm seasons, they feed on numerous insects including grasshoppers, crickets, and beetles. In winter, they use a variety of wild berries for food such as dogwood, hawthorn, sumac, wild grape, hackberry, honeysuckle, red cedar, and poke. Their preferred habitat is grasslands with scattered trees; however, farmlands, pastures, roadsides, power line rights of way, and mowed grassy areas such as golf courses and large lawns all provide suitable habitat.

Bluebird numbers have gone up and down over time. When early settlers cleared land for farms and orchards, they actually increased the available habitat for bluebirds, and their numbers increased. As cavity nesters, they take advantage of holes made by woodpeckers in decaying trees and fence posts. Thus, the use of wooden fence posts on newly established farms serves to increase the number of nesting sites. Two factors led to a decline in their numbers beginning as early as the late 1800s. First, the introduction of the starling and English sparrow to North America, both cavity nesters, increased competition for nesting sites. Second, the use of steel fence posts instead of wood reduced available nesting cavities.

Fortunately, bluebirds have responded well to management programs nationwide, including the Missouri Department of Conservation’s program, which have helped restore their numbers. These programs establish “bluebird trails,” or lines of nest boxes located in a suitable habitat. Bluebirds readily use these boxes, although they need to be monitored to prevent sparrows and starlings from nesting in them as well. The MDC has blueprints for boxes on its web site at www.mdc.mo.gov.

Bluebirds stay throughout the winter as far north as central Missouri, but farther north they generally migrate southward from September through mid-December and return in February. Females lay three to six eggs for each brood and raise two to three broods each year. Both parents care for the young, which leave the nest in fifteen to eighteen days.

With continued maintenance of existing bluebird trails and the establishment of new ones, the future is secure for our state bird. Eastern Bluebird John Fisher is the author of Catfish, Fiddles, Mules, and More: Missouri’s State Symbols.

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